For The Geeks Amongst Us  
 

   CFD is an acronym for Computational Fluid Dynamics.

   CFD allows football manufacturers to examine the aerodynamics of different surface properties, lace arrangements and seam depths. It also helps to assess the stability of balls in flight.

   CFD is a sophisticated computational analysis technology that enables you to study the dynamics of things that flow. Using CFD, you build a computational model that represents a device that you want to study. Then you apply fluid flow physics to this virtual prototype, and the software outputs a prediction of the fluid dynamics. CFD not only predicts fluid flow behavior, but also the transfer of heat, mass, phase change, chemical reaction, mechanical movement, and stress or deformation of related solid structures.

   While watching the Super Bowl, some engineers from Fluent Inc. began to ponder the aerodynamics of a football in flight. They hunted down a regulation football, learning that the Canadian version is quite different from the American one, and modeled it in motion after a perfect throw. The perfect throw was assumed to give the ball forward motion only, with spin but without wobble (my note: this is not normal, all thrown footballs wobble, more on this at a later date). Their goal was to compute the forces and moments on the football and understand the mechanics of the laces in disrupting the boundary layer.

SO NOW YOU KNOW, click the link below (www.fluent.com) to read more and see computer-generated pictures of the forces, pressures and atmospheric perturbations of a football in flight. Even if you don’t read it all, the pictures are pretty cool looking.

   What are the dimensions of the goal post? How high is the crossbar? How far apart and how high are the uprights?
Don't know? Take your best guess then click here:

   Just some cool looking pictures: