Current NASA research points toward exciting opportunities for large reductions in viscous drag. Research is underway on natural laminar flow, laminar flow control by suction, and turbulent drag reduction. Preliminary results suggest that a significant amount of natural laminar flow can be achieved on small, straight-wing airplanes. On larger, swept-wing aircraft, laminar flow control by distributed suction is expected to result in significant fuel savings. The area over which laminar flow control is applied depends on tradeoffs involving structural complexity, maintenance, and cost. Several methods of reducing turbulent skin friction by altering the turbulence structure itself have shown promise in exploratory testing. This paper reviews the status of these technologies and indicates the benefits of applying them to future aircraft.


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    Title :

    NASA research on viscous drag reduction


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences ; 1982 ; Seattle, WA


    Publication date :

    1982-01-01


    Type of media :

    Miscellaneous


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :


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