A material with microscopic grooves mimicking those of shark skin could help commercial airliners 鈥� and even supersonic jets or military aircraft 鈥� save on fuel and reduce carbon emissions when cruising through the skies.
Commercial and military customers have already signed up to test the material, which is applied as patches. It was developed by Australian aerospace company MicroTau, and is designed to reduce drag when the grooves align with air flowing across an aircraft鈥檚 surface. The design takes inspiration from how shark skin allows the animals to swim efficiently through water.
Computer simulations suggest that commercial airliners could save on fuel consumption if the patches are applied to enough of the plane. 鈥淲e can get 4 per cent or even slightly more at cruise conditions, but this will ultimately depend on how much coverage, the aircraft type and operating conditions,鈥� says a MicroTau spokesperson. This still needs to be validated for each aircraft type through flight testing, they say.
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A fuel efficiency improvement of 4 per cent would be 鈥渉uge鈥� from an aviation standpoint, allowing planes either to save on fuel or fly further using the same amount, says at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US.
US-based Delta Air Lines and Australian Jetstar Airways are looking to test the technology on their Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 passenger jets, respectively.
The material should ideally cover the majority of an aircraft鈥檚 fuselage, wings and tail 鈥� a straightforward process given the patches can be stuck onto existing plane parts like graphic decals. 鈥淭his makes it an extremely practical 鈥榓dd-on鈥� approach鈥�, instead of something that requires substantial structural changes, says at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Delta is helping MicroTau do initial ground testing before the material is certified for future flight testing, says at Delta Sustainable Skies Lab. 鈥淧art of the ground testing process will be to understand what ratio of the plane should be covered to optimise the benefits,鈥� she says.
The US military has already completed four of six planned test flights with the shark skin material applied to a Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft. 鈥淭his ability to optimise our legacy airframes is allowing us to potentially save millions of dollars in fuel costs and extend aircraft range,鈥� says at the US Air Force.
MicroTau鈥檚 material has also flown aboard an experimental supersonic jet developed by Boom Supersonic, a US company focused on bringing back supersonic commercial air travel. The shark skin patches were applied to the bottom of the XB-1 prototype plane for half a dozen test flights, including two where XB-1 reached supersonic speeds. The patches stayed firmly on the plane, even when travelling at up to Mach 1.18, or around 1460 kilometres per hour. A Boom Supersonic spokesperson says the patches 鈥渟urvived these conditions comfortably with no observable degradation鈥�.
