Fluid Dynamics Helps Speed Swim Times; Mimicking Shark Skin; Specialized software lets Speedo design swimsuits that glide through water.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: J. BONASIA

The latest in swimsuit technology could give Michael Phelps a speed boost at the Olympic Games this summer.

The U.S. swimmer will be sporting a Speedo Fastskin FSII suit, which mimics the unusual skin of sharks. Speedo tapped specialized software from a company called Fluent to model the suit's tiny bumps.

Zigzag bumps allow sharks to suppress turbulence and thus reduce their drag in the water. Likewise, tests show that Fastskin suits can cut underwater drag by 4% over standard competitive swimwear.

Privately held Fluent, based in Lebanon, N.H., makes software for a field known as computational fluid dynamics, or CFD. Fluent's programs let users model the flow of liquids, gases and powders, says Chief Executive Bharatan Patel.

"People buy our software because, prior to having a computer solution, the only alternative was to build a wind tunnel for actual physical modeling," Patel said.

Fluent's CFD software has helped improve performance in many sports. Examples include Formula One auto racing, America's Cup yacht racing, ski jumping and bicycling. The software also can test the flow of blood through veins, the movement of air around missiles and the trail of pollution that spews from smokestacks.