Sports aerodynamicist Ingmar Jungnickel joins the show to discuss AiRO, a new CFD-based aero analysis tool built for bike fitters and coaches. He outlines why traditional wind-tunnel and field-testing approaches struggle with cost, complexity, and repeatability, and explains how recent advances in computing and AI now make high-fidelity CFD practical at the fit-studio level. The discussion highlights AiRO’s emphasis on breadth of exploration—rapidly testing wide parameter ranges—rather than pursuing ever-higher fidelity in isolated conditions.
Key Points
- Ingmar’s background spans wind-tunnel work, velodrome testing, CFD development, and elite projects with Specialized, the German Cycling Federation, and U.S. Speed Skating.
- Conventional aero tools—wind tunnels, track testing, field testing, PIV, and ultrasonic tomography—are limited by scalability, environmental control, rider repeatability, and cost.
- AiRO’s core components include:
a parametric human model fitted from simple photographs and basic anthropometrics,
a digital-twin rider posture controlled through ~18 intuitive sliders,
fast, cloud-based CFD simulations. - AiRO’s strategic focus is breadth over depth: enabling broad parameter sweeps, positional permutations, and large-scale exploration that would be infeasible in a tunnel or on a track.
- Digital repeatability eliminates rider-movement noise, one of the main sources of error in physical aero testing.
- Current limitations include the absence of textured-surface modelling (aero socks, advanced skinsuits) and single-yaw simulations, though both are technically feasible as compute economics improve.
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