Twenty-three out of 25 world records, 47 gold medals, and 89 percent of all swimming medals were won by athletes wearing the Speedo LZR RACER suit. Even prior to the Olympic swim competition, 52 world records were set in 2008, and 48 of those were accomplished by swimmers wearing Speedo LZR RACER suits. In fact, within just a week of the suit’s launch in February of this year, athletes wearing it had broken three world records.
“The statistics speak for themselves, and we are proud to be a strategic technology behind the product that helped elite swimmers shave seconds off their competitive times,” said Chris Reid, vice president, marketing, at ANSYS, Inc. “From the earliest stages of our work with Speedo, we anticipated that our involvement would contribute to their success. Because of the power of our engineering simulation software, the development team was able to run more ‘what if’ analyses prior to actual physical prototypes. Beyond these experimental benefits, our software provided researchers with a better understanding of drag forces, thus revealing potential ways to reduce them. This was a real-world example of engineering simulation driving innovation that ultimately contributes to a customer’s business success.”
A Speedo computational fluid dynamics expert, the late Barry Bixler, utilized ANSYS® software to simulate the flow of water around a virtual swimmer’s body. Researchers used the simulation results to identify areas of passive drag — the friction produced by a swimmer’s body while it is in a streamlined position, which the swimmer typically assumes after the initial dive and following each lap’s turn off the pool wall. This glide position accounts for about 30 percent of the race, so lessening drag in this position is critically important in a competitive race situation. The engineering simulation results pinpointed areas of higher resistance on the athletes’ bodies, such as across the chest. This work guided the ultimate position of the Speedo LZR RACER suit panels — deliberately shaped sections of low-friction material that reduce skin friction drag by a total of 24 percent compared to the base material of the suit. In tests, swimmers saw a 4 percent increase in speed for starts, sprints and turns when wearing the suit compared to runs in their training swimwear. Speedo’s extensive tests showed that the LZR RACER swimsuit is the fastest suit in the world: Its LZR RACER panels exhibit 38 percent less skin friction drag than ordinary swimsuit material and 10 percent less passive drag than Speedo’s FASTSKIN FSII swimsuit, launched in 2004 prior to the Athens Olympics.
Working with engineering experts from ANSYS and the University of Nottingham in the U.K., Bixler used analyses to identify areas where both skin- and form-drag occur. Skin-drag is inherent in the properties of any material over which a fluid flows, and to the local flow conditions (particularly speed). It is induced by the local velocity gradients that create a shear force due to the viscous properties of the fluid. Form-drag is a result of the swimmer's body travelling through the fluid; the goal is to make the flow path as smooth and undisturbed as possible, thereby decreasing the drag. The fluids simulations involved precise boundary layer meshing techniques using software from ANSYS and resolved fine fluid-flow details using the precision scanned geometries of elite swimmers.
The project, which took three years, brought together a range of research work. Other partners included NASA in the United States, whose wind tunnel helped evaluate the drag of various fabric candidates; the University of Otago in New Zealand, which assessed drag and measured swimming economy performance in its water flume tests; and the renowned sports science team at the Australian Institute of Sport, which put water flume and wind tunnel test results into practice in the real world.
“The connection between leaders in the sports industry with ANSYS is inescapable. Many organizations compete, but only a few achieve excellence — and the margin of separation can be extremely small. For example, in one of the Olympic swim finals, medallist Michael Phelps won by one-one hundredth of a second!” said Jim Cashman, president and CEO of ANSYS, Inc. “There are countless opportunities to do even more with engineering simulation in the future to analyze the swimmer throughout the race. The success looking at passive drag sets the stage for more complex multiphysics simulations, in particular as the Speedo swimsuit continues to evolve, and in general with the continued proliferation of sports applications.”
The Speedo LZR RACER swimsuit also played a part in making history at the Olympics. American swimming sensation Phelps won a total of eight gold medals competing in the Speedo LZR RACER suit, helping him to overtake Mark Spitz’s 36-year old record for the number of gold medals won by an athlete in the games, which makes him the greatest Olympian of all time.
About Speedo
Synonymous with swimwear, the iconic brand celebrates 80 years of dominance creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. In the 1920s, Speedo made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo redefines swimwear again with the LZR RACER® — the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created; meanwhile designer collaborations with Comme des Garçons put Speedo at the cutting edge of fashion design. As the world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo is passionate about life in and around the water, supporting swimming from beginners through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps. Speedo is owned by Pentland Brands and distributed in over 170 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.speedo.com.
SPEEDO, the ARROW device, LZR PULSE and LZR RACER are registered trade marks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.
About ANSYS, Inc.
ANSYS, Inc., founded in 1970, develops and globally markets engineering simulation software and technologies widely used by engineers and designers across a broad spectrum of industries. The Company focuses on the development of open and flexible solutions that enable users to analyze designs directly on the desktop, providing a common platform for fast, efficient and cost-conscious product development, from design concept to final-stage testing and validation. The Company and its global network of channel partners provide sales, support and training for customers. Headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., with more than 70 strategic sales locations throughout the world, ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries employ approximately 1,700 people and distribute ANSYS products through a network of channel partners in over 40 countries. Visit www.ansys.com for more information.
ANSYS, ANSYS Workbench, Ansoft, AUTODYN, CFX, FLUENT and any and all ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and feature names, logos and slogans are registered trademarks or trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries. All other brand, product, service and feature names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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