These discoveries can be extremely vital for the future of the aviation industry. Climate change makes weather conditions more unpredictable and weighty. Over the past four decades, the frequency of extreme turbulence events has increased 55 percent. To ensure the safety of passengers, aircraft must become more resistant and capable of performing agile maneuvers in challenging conditions without prejudice to the stability of aircraft and passenger safety.
At the same time, the air traffic volume increases, thanks to which innovation testing is crucial, which escalate the performance of aircraft and can support in decarbonization of flying without having to rely only on innovations in fuels. Passive progress can not only support with this, but it would do it without depending on the complicated electronic systems.
However, the path to adopting such technology is difficult-and this was the case with many other technologies inspired by animals. For example, in the 1980s Scientists have discovered That sharks have petite protrusions, called riblets, covering their bodies, which reduce resistance when they slip through the water. They wondered if the employ of a similar design for aircraft could significantly reduce fuel consumption. In 1997 Scientists determined quantitatively that shark -style rickets can reduce aircraft resistance by almost 10 percent. However, commercial tests in real aircraft only began in 2016.
Lufthansa technician, a German aviation company, eventually developed AerosharkAircraft surface technology inspired by shark leather. “Today, 25 aircraft in seven airlines have been modified using our Sharkkinku technology, and this number is constantly growing,” says Lea Klinge, spokesman for Lufthansa Technik. He adds that such innovations require decades of research and that the integration of modern solutions with existing fleets without disturbing surgery remains the main challenge.
Considering how to scale these flaps with a pen, “there are some logistics challenges in the range of what materials we can make, from which they can be made or how we can properly attach them to the wings,” says Wissa. And implementing such innovation would not be as simple as adding a plastic film to a petite prototype aircraft in the team’s experiment. “Often the integration of innovative solutions at the commercial level can quickly become complex and multidisciplinary,” says Ruxandra Botez, air engineer at the University of Ets Montreal. The aircraft must undergo various security tests and certificates that can easily last several years. Botez also notes that most up-to-date aircraft are built with incremental improvements in previous models, and manufacturers are reluctant to move away from existing projects.
Lentink claims, however, that focusing only on commercial scalability is an improper approach. He adds that if innovations with featherlight scalability are the only ones that are tested, scientists will not think outside the box. “If you really want to introduce innovations in the airport, you need to come up with these completely wild ideas,” he says. Too close to the final application limits the ability of engineers to create modern things. He believes that the flaps inspired by secret feather, in their current form, are probably not close to immediate application. “But I don’t consider it criticism,” he says. “I see it as scientists developing critical ideas that can now be developed in this technological process for use.”
Scientists said that it is stressed that the future of aircraft design must still draw inspiration from nature. The birds are more agile, talented and maneuvered than people built. “If we want to create planes that can fly so effectively and adapting in unpredictable conditions, we will inevitably have to include aspects of bird flight into new generation projects,” says Sedky.
Even if they do not reach enormous commercial aircraft, Wissa claims that these innovations inspired by feathers can change the game in the case of petite aircraft that should play the main role in the future of aviation, for example in the supply of packages or air mobility in the city-for example many startups try to develop flying taxis services. Such aircraft will probably have to start and land in tight spaces. These innovations can escalate lifting and control during such high angle maneuvers.
“As the planes are smaller, they also become more susceptible to environmental factors, such as gusts, strong winds and turbulent air flows,” explains Wissa. Equipped with these flaps, petite flying vehicles of the future can be able to cope with “gusts that would throw the plane out of the sky.”