Dr. Amy Lang, University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
“Reducing the Drag Over
Aircraft by Mimicking the Surface Geometry of Bristled Shark Skin
Scales”
(Category:
Aviation)
The issue of reducing drag
over solid surfaces in high velocity flows is one that has kept researchers
working for years. It is estimated that even a 1% reduction in drag can
save an airline company $100,000 to $200,000 and at least 25,000 gallons of fuel
per year per aircraft. Worldwide, this 1% reduction could translate to
fuel savings of more than $1 billion per year.
The resulting reduction in emissions into our air is equally as impressive. With
her Lindbergh Grant, Dr.
Lang will determine whether the surface texture on the skin of fast-swimming
sharks, potentially capable of bristling their scales when in pursuit of prey,
could be mimicked and used to reduce the drag on aircraft. She will perform
water tunnel experiments to measure the flow over and within a bristled
sharkskin model (2 cm size scales), which achieves similarity with real
sharkskin (0.2 mm size scales) by a corresponding scale down in velocity of the
experiments. She will also obtain drag measurements over a sharkskin model
in a Couette flow facility containing high viscosity oil. Her objective is
to reveal the boundary layer control mechanisms of the bristled sharkskin to
deduce the means by which sharks minimize their drag. Dr. Lang’s project
has the potential to reduce aircraft drag
by 30%, once the technology is refined and implemented, greatly reducing the
nation’s dependency on fossil fuels, reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the
atmosphere, and costs.
Wonder how it works in icing conditions?
Grayhawk