SBIR Phase I: Aerodynamic Drag Reduction with a Flexible Composite Surface De-Turbulator

研制了一种柔性复合表面除扰器(FCSD)带，该带可以方便地粘贴在飞机机翼等气动表面上，以减少复合表面摩擦和形成阻力。这是由于流动-FCSD相互作用，通过亚微米振幅弯曲振荡抑制了大多数湍流波动，从而在非零压力梯度边界层中稳定了靠近气动表面的几乎停滞的薄子层。在标准Cirrus帆船上的初步飞行评估表明，在整个可操作的空速范围内，无外部动力的Sinha-FCSD能够将机翼测试部分的局部剖面阻力减少17%-27%。拟议的SBIR第一阶段项目旨在通过飞行和风洞测试来验证是否可以对整个机翼表面进行类似的改进，以减少大约5-8%的总阻力；目前通过其他简单的外部无动力修改是不可行的。这项拟议的工作主要是为了在未来两年内向全球帆船社区推出一种美国制造的滑翔率增强设备。商用飞机减阻所节省的燃料不仅有助于我们更好地利用化石燃料达到这一目的，还有助于减少向大气中排放温室气体。

A flexible composite surface de-turbulator (FCSD) tape has been developed which can be conveniently affixed to aerodynamic surfaces, such as aircraft wings, to reduce the combined skin-friction and form drag. This is due to the flow-FCSD interaction, which damps out most turbulent fluctuations through sub-micron amplitude flexural oscillations, thereby stabilizing a thin nearly stagnant sub-layer next to the aerodynamic surface in non-zero pressure gradient boundary layers. Preliminary flight evaluations on a Standard Cirrus sailplane have shown the externally un-powered Sinha-FCSD capable of reducing the local profile drag of a test section of the wing by 17- 27% over the entire operable airspeed range. The proposed SBIR Phase-I project is aimed at verifying, through flight and wind-tunnel tests if similar improvements can be obtained for the entire surface of the wing, so as to reduce the overall drag about 5-8%; a level currently not feasible through other simple externally un-powered modifications. The proposed work is primarily geared towards launching a U.S.-made glide-ratio enhancement device to the sailplane community worldwide with the next two years. Fuel savings resulting from drag reduction of commercial aircraft will not only help us better utilize fossil fuels for this purpose but also help reduce the injection of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.