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 ...
There have been 6 releases of Sharknado and a couple of spinoffs. My thinking is that it is meant for stoners.
Dude, wait, what?
Sharks. A 450 million year-old design, but a good one.
Municipal bonds, Ted
LOL!
Good to know that there are many ways to waste one’s life that I am completely oblivious to.
Nice screen name, BTW. Alas, another book that I haven’t read, which maybe I’ll get to after I read the Divine Comedy. Maybe in this life, but more likely in purgatory.
You’ve seen them all twice??
—yep—I thought that was why golf balls have the texture they do, instead of being smooth—
Now watch Olympic swimmers wearing shark skin suits.
It’s not a crazy idea. But keeping that surface clean is going to be an expensive nightmare, as Northrop found out the hard way with the X-21 laminar flow wing test program.
Maybe it works, but leopard skin would be FAABulous!
Cute.
Since there is a number directly related to fuel for a cost, how does that savings compare to the cost of the material and installing it?
And maintaining it?
Does it impact the ability to check for metal fatigue or does it need to be removed and reinstalled for inspections?
Meh.
3M developed this technology way back in the 80’s.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12517073-700-technology-ribbed-planes-fly-with-greater-ease/
The skin coating is ok until the flying remoras attach and then drag goes to +5.
Cool!
wouldn’t owl feathers work, as well?
1% fuel savings is a lot of money.
Cute!
A gallon of kerosene contains roughly the energy equivalent of 40 kWh and weighs 7 pounds.
What’s the weight and volume of batteries holding 40 kWh?
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