Enhancing Water Sports Performance

该提案是一个试点项目，旨在将EPSRC资助的研究专业知识与应用体育研究联系起来，以提高英国在2012年奥运会上的表现。在这个项目中，我们将通过实验研究英国体育是否需要关注所谓的莲花效应导致的某些运动的潜在性能增益。在这种效果下，疏水性和形貌相结合，以创建光滑的超防水表面。最近的学术工作表明，这种类型的表面上，简单的液体的无滑移边界条件变得宽松，并导致有限的滑移长度的水流过表面。在文献中已经声称，由于大于250微米的滑移长度，流动阻力降低约15%。我们的项目将审查与体育相关的文献，审查和解释英国体育最近的拖曳水池实验，创建一系列超疏水表面，并提供样本供英国体育测试。

This proposal is for a pilot project to link EPSRC funded research expertise with applied sports research with a view to UK performance in the 2012 Olympics. In this project, we will investigate experimentally whether UK Sport needs to be concerned at potential performance gains in some sports resulting from the so-called Lotus Effect . In this effect hydrophobicity and topography are combined to create slippy super-water-repellent surfaces. Recent academic work on this type of surface has suggested that the no-slip boundary condition for simple liquids becomes relaxed and causes a finite slip length for water flowing over the surface. There have been claims in the literature of a reduction in flow resistance of around 15% attributed to a slip length of greater than 250 microns. Our project will review the literature for relevance to sport, review and interpret recent towing tank experiments by UK Sport, create a range of super-hydrophobic surfaces and provide specimens for testing by UK Sport.