New Speedos launched with help of Otago sports scientist

Many hours of testing and painstaking observation using the University of Otago's swimming flume have gone into the latest Olympic offering from international swimwear manufacturer Speedo.

Launched simultaneously in New York, London, Sydney and Tokyo on the 12th of February the in-water development of the latest generation of competition swimwear has been carefully watched over by School of Physical Education sports scientist David Pease.

A specialist in biomechanics Pease is one of only a privileged handful of people from outside the company who have been involved in the hush-hush development, timed to be ready for this year's Beijing Olympics.

So vital was his involvement he has been invited to be the expert on a media panel at the Tokyo launch of the new design.

It is second time around for Pease who was also involved in the development of Speedo's previous design, launched in time for the 2004 Athen's Olympics. He says the testing for this latest development has been even more rigorous.

"We have done hundreds of tests to see how well the suit behaves in the water," says Pease.

Using the School of Physical Education flume, the only one of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, the swimmer is effectively "towed" through the flowing water. They are held in place by a special test rig so close-up camera shots can be taken to show the movement of water past the suit, allowing researchers to detect points of drag.

"The flume allows you to get a far better shot because it keeps the swimmer still in relation to the camera," says Pease.

"Also, the flume allows us to measure drag far more accurately because we can control water velocity very accurately."

In the flume they can detect differences between suits down to as little as 100 grams and that is important when an Olympic level swimmer creates between 11 and 12kgs of drag in the water at World Record pace.

"It's the equivalent of sticking your hand out a car window at about 145kph - that's the amount of drag you are fighting against at world record swimming speeds."

With all the data being gathered computational fluid dynamics - a form of computer modelling - has also come to play a bigger part in swimsuit development.

Researchers can use what they have learnt from the flume, combine that with the computer analysis and then come up with design changes they can test on the computer model and then trial in the flume.

Without giving away too many secrets, Pease says the new design has a number of innovations to reduce drag, such as the use of fabric welds to hold seams together, rather than stitching.

"There is also some structure built into the suit to help hold the core and control body shape," he says.