Learning with Gifs: (Ep. 1) Physics and the Art of Simulation

Howdy Steemians,

Welcome to my first episode of Learning gifs Gifs! I'm excited to explore and teach about topics with the help of gifs I've made from Youtube videos using Giphy. I hope you enjoy!

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For the pilot episode, since I'm currently a PhD student in the field of Computation Science, Engineering, and Mathematics, I thought I would cover the topic of simulations. The PhD program I'm in basically teaches us how to create simulations that obey the laws of physics to provide insights on how to solve complicated problems. For instance, the problem of minimizing injuries to all passengers during an automobile accident is aided immensely by simulations.

Have you ever been in a car accident that didn't feel very strong but somehow totally ruined your car? Good! That's exactly what the structure of the car is designed to do - absorb the energy in the crash so your body doesn't have to!

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Before I go any further, I want to make one distinction. Do not confuse animations with simulations. Animations are created by artists to mimic physics whereas simulations solve equations of motion to replicate physics as accurately as possible.

vs.

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One very interesting application for computational scientists is in the field of medicine. Using CT scans or MRI images, a patient-specific geometry can be created in the computer and simulations of blood flow can be run to helps doctors diagnose diseases and plan treatment options. Here's a patient-specific blood flow simulation of the aortic arch.

Next is a simulation of a heart valve replacement surgery. Rather than remove the diseased valves, this operation just stents a prosthetic heart valve right in the valve cavity, pushing the diseased valves to the side. The beauty of this approach is that you've removed the need for a highly invasive surgery (open heart surgery - 6 weeks recovery) with a minimally invasive one (catheterization - 3-5 days recovery).

Want to figure out how to increase the efficiency of gas-guzzling tracter-trailers? Computational scientists do that too!

Same thing with wind turbines. There is a lot of shape optimization that goes into wind turbine blade design and simulations help make it happen.

Finally, we have probably the least practical but, at least for me, the most impressive simulation yet. Here's a simulation of a large asteroid impact over the ocean. For a size comparison, the video adds a large container ship in the water. Let's hope we never have to worry about this simulation being necessary!

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I hope you enjoyed this episode of Learning with Gifs. Future episodes will include beautiful drone footage, time-lapsed growing things, and slow motion water balloons. Happy Friday everyone!

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Sources:
car crash
airbag
plane crash: animation
plane crash: simulation
aortic arch blood flow
heart valve replacement
truck airfoil
wind turbine simulation
asteroid impact