Posted on 02/24/2022 9:31:46 AM PST by Red Badger
International airline Swiss will be covering all 12 of its Boeing 777s with a shark-skin-inspired film that can reduce drag and fuel consumption by more than 1 percentSwiss VIEW 2 IMAGES
Zero-emissions airliners are still a long way off, but Lufthansa and BASF have developed a way to improve things right now. AeroShark is an adhesive riblet film that immediately reduces fuel consumption, and therefore emissions, from any aircraft.
Millions of years of evolution moved the ocean's most feared predators away from perfectly smooth skin. Instead, sharks have very slightly ribbed skin, which reduces drag enough to become an advantage. What works in hydrodynamics often translates well to aerodynamics, so the AeroShark team moved to emulate the texture on the exterior of large aircraft.
The resulting film doesn't sound like a radical difference; the millions of prism-shaped "riblets" on the AeroShark film's surface are no more than 50 micrometers (1/20th of a millimeter, 2/1000ths of an inch) high. But that's enough to make a difference in fuel consumption; international airline Swiss has calculated that if 950 square meters (10,225 sq ft) of this film is applied to a Boeing 777, in specific patterns and aligned with the airflow around the fuselage and engine nascelle surfaces, the reduced drag immediately reduces fuel consumption by 1.1 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
We need to coat all the congressional members and staff with this substance. Lizard skin.
From the headline, I was expecting something based on Jaws XVII or whatever they are up to.
Interesting, but the concept is hardly novel.
LOL, reminds me of the intro to “Airplane!”
I always thought that snail/slug slime could be used for lubrication.
SHARKNADO 15!
As with so many Olympic sports, swimmers look for any edge to cut precious tenths of a second off their time. One recent advance in swimming technology was the introduction of "shark skin" swimsuits - tight-fitting suits designed to imitate a shark's unique, sandpaper-like skin. But a recent study from Harvard University concludes that these high-tech suits don't have nearly as much of an effect as Olympians might hope.
Is Sharknado a thing?
I largely dropped out of the movie scene about 1991 (not that I was ever much into it). I do know Nicholas Cage, but he’s not John Wayne or Jimmy Stewart (or even CLint Eastwood, though he may be on par with Bruce WIllis).
I know there's an inappropriate joke in there somewhere about "ribbed for her pleasure" and female pilots or some such...
All aircraft should be made of stainless steel or titanium and made to withstand high impact velocity or a crash impact of 3,400 Gs and temperatures up to 2000 degrees F (1,100 degrees C) for at least 30 minutes. The interiors should be wrapped in a thin layer of aluminum and a layer of high-temperature insulation.
This is what black boxes are made of they seem to survive most crashes. The way it could be looked at is that with the loss of the extra drag it means more speed so they can hit the ground harder. Counterproductive.
wy69
Wasn’t this used in full body swim suits worn by Olympians several years ago? Wasn’t it then banned? Something like that.
BASF dude looks like stock footage.
Is he live or is he Memorex?..........................
What is the break even time time or does it ever pay for itself?
But of course, we are talking green so cost is no object
Slippery when wet.
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