Mimicking humpback whale flippers may improve airplane wing design

EurekAlert! ^ | 5/11/04 | Deborah Hill

[FlyVet]

"The tests were reported by biomechanicist Frank Fish..."

You just can't make this stuff up. Paul Harvey mentioned this today. I'm looking forward to seeing strange-looking wings on future aircraft.

[Rokke]

This is just dying for some of the computer geniouses on this site to create an appropriate image.

[MarkL]

I'm not sure why this is such a big suprise, and I've wondered about it in the past...

It's long been known that long, smooth surfaces cause additional drag in laminar fluid flow.

That's why golfballs have the dimples. The balls fly farther than smooth ones.

Mark

[dalereed]

Hae a good friend that was an F-4U pilot that shot down 2 Migs in Korea named Frank Fisch. It's not Fish, but close!

Along the lines of improving lift, drag, etc., i've had in the back of my mind for over 20 years that props should have winglets facing forward. The "Q" tip props weren't successful (facing backward) just as the droop tip Cessna wing wasn't successful, they turned it the wrong direction!

[El Gran Salseron]

I would venture a guess that these tubercles would not work so good at higher speeds. They might work well for Pipers, slower aircraft but probably not so good on airliners or fighters.

[Pylon]

I don't like this for one reason, whales don't fly.

[Hank Rearden]

I don't like this for one reason, whales don't fly.

You no doubt base that wild assertion on the fact that you have probably never seen them fly, right?

[martin_fierro]

Southwest's on the case.

<|:)~

[Reeses]

[miner89]

1. We already know about tripping boundary layer turbulence to prevent on the onset of separation which both lowers lift and increases drag.

2. A wing designed to function like a whale may be good for very low speed incompressible flow wings. Unfortunately all commercial aircraft fly in a faster flow regime.

3. Why are we surprised that a creature that lives in the water has a body designed for swimming in water?

[Reeses]

[Old Professer]

All our lives we were told the most important invention was the wheel; yet had we a knife first and the fruit of a citrus tree we would, through trial and error, have disclosed a wheel replete with spokes - but whence came the axle?

[Old Professer]

Tell that to a hapless fish.

[Old Professer]

I always thought they had bad eyesight or were poor navigators and those protuberances were but the evidence of hard-won victories.

[Pylon]

You no doubt base that wild assertion on the fact that you have probably never seen them fly, right?

That depends, are we talking sober?

[gonzo]

If they build it, I promise to try to fly it............FRegards

[yatros from flatwater]

Given the relative viscosity of the two fluids, a whale compares to a fairly fast moving aircraft. Penguins "fly" on pretty stubby wings, as do supersonic aircraft.

FYI, 1,519 10E-6 (m2/s) is the kinematic viscosity of water at 5 degC, compared to 17.2 10E-6 (m2/s) for air at 1 bar and 40 degC, courtesy of www.engineeringtoolbox.com.

I'm not an aeronautical engineer, so I can't tell you quickly what T/P conditions prevail at various Mach levels and altitudes at a leading edge. Apply a 25 fold velocity difference, though, and whales begin to look like jets, operating in similar viscosities.

[underbyte]

Plagiarizing old stuff for grant money

This is old stuff. My father, an old time aerodynamist was one of the 2 original founders of the American Helicopter Society with 80 patents, (He worked with Igor Sikorsky, Stan hiller, frank paisecki and even spent time with Charles Lindbergh) sat next to a guy at Aerojet in the 50's who invented Vortex generators, those little tabs you see on the leading edge on the wings of commercial aircraft. Does the same thing.

I do like the bumps on the whales nose, should try that one on a sub

[Jeff Chandler]

Name that Senator.

[TexasTransplant]

Plagiarizing old stuff for grant money

 

Hey that guy with the suit covered with question marks (Lesco?) is responsible, but on the series side, the first thing that came to mind was Golf Balls have dimples that make them more aerodynamic.

 

(Just  a laymans Opinion)