My PhD project is about …
… understanding how to make Danish elite cyclists go faster on their bikes. The main force slowing a cyclist down is air resistance, also called drag. So, if we can reduce the drag, we can make a cyclist go faster.
I work specifically with time trial cyclists-the athletes who race alone against the clock in aerodynamic positions rather than in a peloton. By understanding how the airflow behaves around the body, I can try to manipulate it and help the cyclist win the competition.
My work combines computer simulations that give insight into the flow, with physical wind tunnel testing. First, the athletes are scanned in 3D. The scans are then used both for digital simulations and for creating scaled 3D-printed models that can be tested in a wind tunnel.
