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May 21, 2022 Leave a Comment Researchers at University of Chicago have found a novel way to physically model Earthquakes which have been shown to have a fairly high similarity with computer simulations of Earthquakes. The team realised that during Earthquakes occurring in basin areas, such as that which struck Mexico City in 1985, exhibit more damage around the edge of the basin. Until now, it has been difficult to determine why this may be. But thanks to 3D printing and lasers, the researchers have been able to gain some insight into this phenomenon. Beneath the ground, the earth forms into layers over time. These layers have different material properties. Some are soft like clay, and others are brittle like shale. The interactions between these layers during an earthquake are not so easy to understand. “Simulating all of this is really hard to do, not only because it’s computationally intensive,…    read more 

May 18, 2022 Leave a Comment Wisconsin-based company PrintFoam wants you to stop designing plastic lattices with your fancy generative design and topology optimization software and start designing for foams instead. Afterall, many of the lattices designed in these softwares are just trying to mimic the behavior of foams anyway, with their light densities and whatnot. So why not cut out the middleman and just churn out printed foams? Why not indeed. Because PrintFoam wants you to know that with their newly launched resin-based printed foam system, they can churn out plywood sized sheets of foam in mere minutes, rather than hours. And it’s not just sheets. It’s 3D printing so you can obviously do more complex geometries.Check out the printed foam drone nose in the image below, designed to replace a traditional styrofoam version. Styrofoam vs printed foam. (Image credit: PrintFoam) The system works by …uhhh…. Actually, there isn’t…    read more 

May 13, 2022 Leave a Comment Traditional rockets are incredibly inefficient for a number of reasons, not least due to the fact that they are mostly disposable. But reusability aside, another reason that rockets are inefficient is the fixed geometry of the bell nozzle. Efficient rocket thrust is dependent on the exhaust gas going in the correct direction (opposite to direction of travel, ideally). A bell shaped rocket nozzle (also called a convergent/divergent, or “con-di” nozzle) shapes the exhaust gasses so they flow out in more or less a straight vector. But as it exits the nozzle, the flow encounters the atmosphere, which also shapes the flow. Aerospike engine (Image credit: Hyperganic) At low altitudes, the ambient pressure is enough to tame the flow into a straight path. However, once the altitude increases and the ambient pressure decreases, the pressure affects the flow less and hence the exhaust “expands” as…    read more