Case Studies

simulation@rand.com | RandSIM.com | 888.483.0674 D2H Advanced Technologies: Olympic Success Through Simulation The Opportunity: Optimizing Skinsuits for Individual Athletes At the Olympic level, where athletes compete at exceptionally high speeds, aerodynamic efficiency is a critical component of performance. As Aidan Jones, Technical Director at D2H Advanced Technologies, explained: "Olympic cycling is a sport where athletes are moving very fast. As a result, opportunities exist to optimize skinsuits so they trip as much of a cyclist's body as possible into the range of the drag crisis." Traditionally, skinsuits have been developed using a combination of fabric testing and wind tunnel evaluations. However, every cyclist has a unique body shape, and different events require athletes to compete at different speeds. A skinsuit that performs well for one cyclist may not deliver the same aerodynamic benefits for another. The opportunity lies in developing a more precise, individualized approach to skinsuit design, where fabric textures and surface features can be optimized for each athlete's body shape and the specific demands of their event. Achieving this level of customization requires a better understanding of how different fabrics interact with airflow and a more efficient way to evaluate potential designs. The Challenge: Moving Beyond Traditional Testing Methods Developing aerodynamically optimized skinsuits presents several challenges. Traditional development typically begins with testing different fabrics on cylindrical models in a wind tunnel. Promising materials are then incorporated into skinsuits and evaluated through additional wind tunnel testing. While this approach provides valuable performance data, translating results from simple test models to the complex shape of a cyclist's body is not always straightforward. The process often involves trial and error, making it difficult to consistently identify the most effective design. Testing on athletes also introduces practical limitations. Wind tunnel sessions require valuable time that could otherwise be dedicated to training and recovery. To minimize these disruptions, development teams often rely on mannequins or representative riders. However, designs optimized for a particular body type may not deliver the same results for every athlete. For D2H, the challenge was to develop a more accurate and repeatable process capable of accounting for the fine details of skinsuit fabrics, the unique geometry of individual athletes, and the complex airflow conditions experienced during competition. The ultimate goal was to create a simulation-driven development process that could predict aerodynamic performance and systematically optimize skinsuit designs for individual riders, while reducing the need for extensive physical testing. The Solution: Using Ansys Fluent to Predict and Optimize Performance To address these challenges, D2H turned to computational fluid dynamics (CFD), using Ansys Fluent to simulate airflow and evaluate the aerodynamic performance of different skinsuit designs. CFD offers a powerful alternative to relying primarily on physical testing. By recreating aerodynamic conditions digitally, engineers can evaluate design variations, better understand airflow behavior, and identify promising solutions before conducting wind tunnel verification. With its extensive aerodynamic expertise and high-performance computing resources, D2H began developing a simulation methodology capable of accurately predicting the drag crisis.

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