How Does the Super Speedo Swimsuit Work?
Fluid Dynamics In order to understand how the Speedo LZR Racer works, one must know a bit about fluid dynamics and swimming. When someone swims, she is moving her own body through water. Water has a certain density, which gives it a high resistance, making it difficult to move through. The reason it’s difficult to move through is because the water resists anything it comes in contact with, be that a leg, an arm or even a stray hair. The goal of the LZR is to shape the body and make it more sleek in the water. Development The process of developing the swimsuit started with the fabric. Speedo tested 60 different types of fabric before settling on its LZR Pulse technology. Tests included using a NASA air tunnel to calculate the air resistance on each type of fabric and using a water flume at the University of Otago in New Zealand to find the passive drag of the various suits and fabrics, along with trying to find the proper suit to fit the water conditions of certain events. In addition t
