These results could be extremely important for the future of the aeronautical industry. Climate change makes weather conditions more unpredictable and severe. Over the past four decades, the frequency of extreme turbulence events has increased 55%. To ensure passenger safety, planes must become more resistant and capable of performing agile maneuvers in difficult conditions without compromising the stability of planes and passenger safety.
At the same time, the volume of air traffic continues to increase, which makes it crucial to explore innovations that improve the efficiency of planes and can help decarbonize theft without having to count solely on fuel innovations. Passive progress could not only help this, but would do it without depending on complex electronic systems.
However, the adoption path of this technology in trade is however difficult – and this has been the case for many other animal inspiration technologies. For example, in the 1980s, Scientists discovered That sharks have small projections, called riblets, covering their body, which reduces the drag as they slide into the water. They wondered if the application of a design similar to planes could considerably reduce fuel consumption. In 1997, Researchers quantified That shark cage style riblets can reduce the trail of planes by almost 10%. However, commercial tests on real planes only started in 2016.
Lufthansa Technik, a German aerospace company, finally developed AerosharkA plane surface technology inspired by sharks skin. “Today, 25 planes in seven airlines have been changed with our Sharkskin technology, and the number is increasing regularly,” said Lea Klingge, spokesperson for Lufthansa Technik. She adds that these innovations require decades of research and that the integration of new solutions into existing fleets without disturbing operations remains a major challenge.
When we consider how to scale these parts inspired by the pen, “there are logistical challenges in terms of the type of materials of which we can make these shutters or how we can attach them correctly to the wings”, explains Wissa. And the deployment of such an innovation would not be as simple as adding the plastic film to the small plane prototype of the team experience. “Often, the integration of innovative solutions at a commercial level can quickly become complex and multidisciplinary,” explains Ruxandra Booz, aerospace engineer at ETS Montreal University. An aircraft must go through a variety of safety tests and certifications, which can easily take several years. BOTER also notes that most modern aircraft are built with incremental improvements on previous models, with manufacturers who are reluctant to move away from existing conceptions.
Lentink, however, argues that focusing only on commercial scalability is the wrong approach. He adds that if innovations with clear scalability are the only ones to test, researchers will not leave the beaten track. “If you really want to innovate in aerospace, you must offer these completely wild ideas,” he said. Stay too close to the final application limits the ability of engineers to create new things. He thinks that the aspects inspired by the secret pen, under their current appearance, are probably not close to the immediate application. “But I don’t see it as a criticism,” he says. “I see it as researchers developing critical ideas that can now be developed in this technological pipeline to an application.”
Wired scientists have spoken to stress that the future of the design of planes should continue to be inspired by nature. Birds are more agile, capable and handy than all that humans have built. “If we want to create planes that can also steal effectively and adaptably in unpredictable conditions, we will inevitably need to incorporate aspects of the flight of birds in new generation conceptions,” explains Sedky.
Even if they do not reach major commercial planes, Wissa claims that these innovations inspired by the feathers could change the situation for small planes, which should play a major role in the future of aviation, as in the delivery of packages or urban air mobility – there are several startups that try to develop flying taxi services, for example. These planes will probably have to take off and land in limited spaces. These innovations could stimulate the elevator and control during these high angle maneuvers.
“As planes become smaller, they also become more sensitive to environmental factors such as gusts, strong winds and turbulent air flows,” explains Wissa. Equipped with these shutters, small flying vehicles of the future could make them “gusts that would have thrown a plane outside the sky”.
