BURLINGTON, Mass. and YOKOHAMA, Japan, July 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exa Japan, a subsidiary of Exa® Corporation (Nasdaq:EXA), a simulation solutions provider for product engineering, announced that Tsukuba University Professor Takeshi Asai, chose Exa PowerFLOW® to analyze the aerodynamic performance of the new Adidas® Brazuca®, the official match ball of the FIFA® 2014 World Cup™.
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Every World Cup, the official soccer match ball is re-engineered. In 2010, the FIFA World Cup match ball, the Adidas Jabulani®, was reported to suddenly and dramatically swerve before goalkeepers — a characteristic unwelcomed by fans and players alike. This year the goal was to improve the ball by making it as close to a perfect sphere as possible. This newly engineered shape allows for easy ball manipulation by the players, but it was also critical for it to have superior aerodynamic performance.
Prof. Asai, a Comprehensive Human Science Professor at Tsukuba University in Japan, studied the aerodynamic characteristics of the new 2014 FIFA World Cup official ball, the Brazuca, and released results of the comparison between the Jabulani and the Brazuca prior to the World Cup. According to Prof. Asai, the new Brazuca match ball is more aerodynamically stable than the Jabulani due to the reduced number of patches on the ball, resulting in longer and deeper ball seams. These have a favorable impact on the airflow around the ball reducing the overall drag. The new design results in the airflow around the ball changing from laminar (streamlined) to turbulent earlier, and at lower speeds, enabling the Brazuca ball to fly though the air with more stability.
Prof. Asai first attempted to observe the aerodynamic performance in a conventional wind tunnel. However, due to the extreme detail required to properly evaluate the differences, the test was insufficient. Prof. Asai then chose to run simulations using Exa PowerFLOW. "In order to understand the flying behavior of high speed sport balls, it is known that visualization and understanding of the boundary layer - the thin region of air close to the ball's surface - would be the key. However, it is very difficult to capture this using conventional methods. The lattice Boltzmann-based technology in PowerFLOW made it possible to capture the boundary layer turbulence that conventional methods could not. It is expected that PowerFLOW will open the door to new era of sport ball computational fluid dynamics (CFD)," Prof. Asai remarked.
His study and simulations are still continuing and Prof Asai plans to publish his final results later this year.
About Exa Corporation
Exa Corporation develops, sells and supports simulation software and services to enhance product performance, reduce product development costs and improve the efficiency of design and engineering processes. Our simulation solutions enable our customers to gain crucial insights about design performance early in the design cycle, thus reducing the likelihood of expensive redesigns and late-stage engineering changes. As a result, our customers realize significant cost savings and fundamental improvements in their engineering development process. Our products include, PowerFLOW®, PowerDELTA®with PowerCLAY®, PowerVIZ®, PowerSPECTRUM®, PowerACOUSTICS®, PowerINSIGHT®, PowerCOOL® and PowerTHERM® along with professional engineering consulting services. A partial customer list includes: BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kenworth, MAN, Nissan, Peterbilt, Renault, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo Trucks.
Founded in 1991, the company is headquartered at 55 Network Drive, Burlington, MA, USA 01803. Tel: 1.781.564.0200; Fax: 1.781.564.0299; Email: info@exa.com; URL: www.exa.com; NASDAQ:EXA
Exa, PowerFLOW, PowerCLAY, PowerTHERM, PowerCOOL, PowerSPECTRUM, PowerDELTA, PowerVIZ, PowerACOUSTICS and PowerINSIGHT are registered trademarks of Exa Corporation. Adidas, Brazuca and Jabulani are registered trademarks of Adidas. World Cup is a trademark and FIFA is a registered trademark of FIFA.
