As the world looks toward Athens and the 2004 summer Olympics, some U.S. Olympic swimmers are looking toward UB for the latest in high-tech swimwear.
Two UB professors from the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, along with the men's swimming coach, have designed a new swimsuit called the "Turbulator" that increases swimming speed by decreasing drag.
Professors David Pendergast and Joseph Mollendorf and men's swim coach Albert Termin teamed up with swimwear company TYR to design, create and distribute the new suit.
"TYR were partners in this with us providing the basic design and them making the actual suit," the two professors stated in a joint email. "They are also going to license the suit from UB as there is a patent pending on the suit design."
What make the swimsuits faster are the "turbulators" that give the suit its name. The "turbulators," which were dubbed by UB designers, are tube-like bands around the suit that help channel water more efficiently while swimming.
"Pressure and wave drag are created when the water flow around the body separates from the body. The bigger separation, the higher the drag," stated the researchers. "The turbulator distributes the flow and keeps the water flow attached to the body, thus decreasing pressure and wave drag."
According to the suit's designers, total drag – or water resistance – is made up of three types of drag. The first is friction, or "water molecules rubbing against the skin." The second is pressure drag, which results from the body pushing its way through the water. The last type is wave drag – "the energy required to generate a wave at the water's surface."
According to the TYR website, the new swimsuits with turbulators, which TYR renamed "Aqua Shift," decrease drag by 10 percent while Speedo's Fastskin II, a competitor, reduces drag by only four percent.
The key to reducing drag, however, depends on a lot more than simply having turbulators on the swimsuit.
"The size, shape and location of the turbulators are critical," stated the two professors. "They are a proportion of the boundary layer in height and placed where the water would separate from the swimmers body."
"The thickness of the turbulators is important, as if it is too small, it does not work at all, while if it is too big, it actually increases drag," they added.
Before deciding on the final suit, the two professors and Coach Termin went through about 20 different designs.
"The test was done on Coach Termin's male swimmers and Coach (Dorsi) Reynolds's women swimmers," stated Pendergast and Mollendorf. "Six to eight of each males and females participated. Also, it was tested on a female Olympic medallist."
According to Pendergast and Mollendorf, TYR hopes to gain support for the suit from the first people who have tested it.
"It is TYR's intent that the suits will be worn by their four contract swimmers in the Olympics. The suit is currently available on the TYR website. UB men's team will wear the suit in the fall," they stated.
One of the Olympic U.S. swimmers to unveil the new design is Yana Klochkova, who will also don the new swimsuit at the summer Olympic in Athens.
"Yana is one of the TYR contract swimmers who is a world class swimmer and will wear this suit in the summer Olympics," stated the email.
In the 2000 Olympic games, Klochkova placed first in the 200-meter medley, first in 400-meter medley and second in the 800-meter freestyle.
TYR incorporated the new suit to the FINA World Cup Championship meet on Jan. 30 at the Nassau (N.Y.) Aquatics Center, according to the UB News Service website.
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