affect of reducing drag

8/2/2019 Affect of Reducing Drag

1/9

This concept was invented and Engineered in summer 1998

All aircraft except gliders, have enormous turbulance lossesduring flight. Gliders are only excepted because they fly so

slow that better airflow patterns exist, where lessturbulence occurs, and that the effects of turbulenceregarding energy goes as the second power of airspeed. So anairliner flying at 500 mph has around 400 times moreaerodynamic energy losses than if the same size-and-shapeglider was flying at 25 mph.

An Active Skin technology has been invented, where the vastmajority of turbulence is eliminated. Theoretically, totalaerodynamic drag might be reduced to 1/7 current dragfactors, meaning that fuel would then last around 7 times aslong or as far!

More practically, this new technology should be able toreduce total aircraft drag to about half of current levels.This would DOUBLE fuel economy. Instead of an airline havingto buy $120,000 of jet fuel for a specific trip, maybe only$60,000 would need to be bought! And then, with the grossairframe weight being 150,000 pounds less at takeoff, theoverall efficiency would be even greater than that!

Below, reference is made to the US government spendingmillions of dollars to try to improve overall efficiency by 1.5%,several years ago. Interesting, since they never showed anyinterest in THIS technology which would CERTAINLY improveefficiency by 50% and probably 100% or more!

Text Font

Face.

Text Size.Background

Color.(for printing)

This concept was invented and Engineered by summer 1998. This presentation was first placed on the Internet inNovember 2002.

Public Service

Categories

Self-Sufficiency

Energy

Environment

Science

Advanced Physics

Social
http://www.mb-soft.com/public3/selfsuff.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/public3/selfsuff.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/public3/selfsuff.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#envirhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#envirhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scienhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scienhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scieahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scieahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scieahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scieahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#scienhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#envirhttp://www.mb-soft.com/public3/selfsuff.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/public3/selfsuff.html


2/9

For the hundred years of powered flight, it has always been accepted thatvery large amounts of drag from air turbulence was unavoidable. Thereappears to be a method to eliminate most of that turbulence, andtherefore most of the drag which must be overcome. The result would beextremely efficient flight, using far less than half as much aviation fuel

to accomplish the same performance, and possibly less than one-fourthas much fuel consumption, without otherwise changing performance.

Powered aircraft must produce forward "thrust" to overcome rearward "drag" and then also beable to accelerate forward. The forward thrust also enables aerodynamic lift to occur, whichbalances the weight of the aircraft. Much of the drag that exists that is associated with airfoils(wings) is due to turbulence that develops along the top of airfoil and behind the airfoil surface.In many situations regarding Bernoulli Lift, around 6/7 of the total drag is due to this turbulence,with only 1/7 actually being unavoidable.

Until now, very sleek airfoil shapes and relatively narrow wings have been the standard ways of

trying to minimize this turbulence effect. However, these sleek shapes also necessarily have lessBernoulli lift effect, for standard physics and aerodynamic reasons.

Another trend in modern aviation is due to the enormous power now available in aircraft engines.It is the reliance on a second manner of lift, "reaction lift". This type of lift is entirely due to thewing surface being tilted, so that oncoming air is deflected down by impact against the bottom ofthe wing. This is simple Newtonian action-and-reaction. Unfortunately, that type of lift createseven more drag due to massive turbulence behind and above the wing surface. With plenty ofpower available, that is not a problem, but it causes much more consumption of jet fuel.

Modern airliners use both methods of lift, with the majority of lift due to reaction lift, because

that enables aircraft to carry greater payload weight, but at the cost of much less stability.Economics drives the world, and the ease of adding extremely heavy payloads, and thereforegreater income, has generally kept up with moderately increasing fuel costs. That situation ischanging, now that petroleum costs are greatly increasing, which means that aviation fuel is alsomuch more expensive. Modern airlines rarely seem to make actual profits any more!

An entirely new and different approach is discussed here. It is based on an almost entirelyBernoulli Lift approach, but with possibly larger wing areas.

Find some book or some wind tunnel movies to carefully look at that turbulence that is above anairfoil. It is very well established that it is NOT random turbulence! (That's IMPORTANT!) Itbegins near the front above the upper surface of the airfoil, and it has a very periodic (butunpredictable) motion, a pattern, it is NOT random.

Aerodynamicists use one specific book, "Theory of Wing Sections" (1949, McGraw Hill/Dover),as the central reference book regarding wing designs. (It says something that a 1949 book is stillso dominant, but it indicates how little actual advance has occurred, except in supersonic flight,in the last 50 years!) Page 84 discusses laminar flow starting at the front of the wing, at low and

Religious

Full Home Page

All!

E-mail
http://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#sociahttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#relighttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#relighttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#menuhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#menuhttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#menuhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.htmlhttp://www.mb-soft.com/index.html#relig


3/9

moderate lift coefficients, as long as the wing surface is relatively smooth. At a minimum-pressure point, complicated effects occur where the flow generally changes to a turbulent flow.This commonly occurs less than 1/4 along the chord (width) of the wing, so turbulent flow is thepredominant situation for most of the area of the wing.

From the reference system of the wing structure, air in front of the airfoil approaches the front(leading) edge, where it is split apart into two separate flows, one above the airfoil and onebelow it. The upper path is the one on which we will concentrate here, although this samereasoning could be applied to the under surfaces of the airfoil as well.

The airflow therefore begins as what is called laminar flow, a very smooth and orderly motionof the air past the airfoil. At some distance along the width (chord) of the airfoil, smallturbulences start to develop, in what is called a transition zone. Soon after, all laminar flow isgone, and the third stage of the airflow is called turbulent flow

In practical aircraft, laminar flow rarely continues beyond 1/4 of the wing chord, and well before

the halfway point, fully turbulent flow exists. We will look carefully at each of the three phasesin conventional airfoil design.:

It seems useful here to quote some portions of an article by Stephan Wilkinson in theAIR&SPACE / Smithsonian Magazine from 1995.

Since the 1930s, we've been told by the popularizers of science that a technique called "laminarflow control" would enable airplanes to sip fuel and shrug off drag, slipping through the air likedolphins in a ship's bow wave. In the realm of large subsonic airliners--the mass transit ofaviation--the attainment of practical laminar flow may well represent the final breakthrough towhich pure aerodynamics can lead us.

With every experimental demonstration of the concept--and there have been many--we seem toreconfirm that, yup, this stuff works. If anything, the application of laminar flow control seemscloser today than ever, which may be why it is the object of extensive NASA study, seriousairframe-industry attention, constant university research, and considerable rivalry between theUnited States and Europe. ... It has been estimated that a 10 percent improvement in airlinerperformance would increase the winner's market share by $80 billion a year.

"Every molecule of air takes the path of least resistance," explains aerodynamicist John Roncz,designer of wings for such airplanes as the globe-circling Voyager (see "Wing Man," Dec.1990/Jan. 1991). "Imagine you're an air molecule, sitting there floating along in space, and an

airplane comes toward you. Unless you're pushed out of the way by the fuselage, you end upflowing either above or below the wing, and there's a single molecule of difference betweenthose two paths. There's a traffic cop at the leading edge, called the stagnation point, and hedecides who goes over the top of the wing and who goes under the bottom." The molecule thattakes the low road, under the wing, need only go with the flow. High pressure helps to hold itagainst the airfoil as it slides aft, just like the air that presses against your palm when you stickyour hand out the car window and angle it slightly to make a "wing."
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag


4/9

But the little guy that the stagnation cop sends over the top of the wing has a harder job: there'slow pressure up there trying to tear the air molecule away from the wing surface and set it tobouncing and burbling. A laminar flow air molecule travels like a surfer sliding smoothly downthe crest of a wave, always an instant ahead of disaster. A turbulent molecule is a wiped-out dudeplunging toward the beach ass over teakettle.

Ideally, the boundary layer is only an inch thick at most, and the effect dissipates quickly awayfrom the wing's surface. But if you could somehow eliminate most of that nearby layer of air, sayby sucking it away with a million tiny vacuum cleaners embedded in the upper wing, you'deliminate a lot of the wing's turbulent flow. In fact, this is what engineers refer to as "activelaminar flow control"--any system that deals with the turbulent layer on the wing's surface.

Turbulence creates drag. It'll also make lift, unless the turbulence gets so extreme the wing stalls.The airflow over an ordinary wing remains laminar for only the first 20 percent or so of chord(the distance from the wing's leading edge to its trailing edge). But the greater the turbulence, thegreater the drag. And the greater the drag, the greater the amount of fuel that has to be burned to

achieve a given speed. Or, to put it another way, the shorter the distance the airplane can fly on agiven amount of fuel. Get rid of that drag and the airplane will fly either farther or faster--or itcan be built with a smaller, lighter wing and do both.

Figuring that natural laminar flow produced entirely by the shape and smoothness of the wingwas a hopeless phantasm, the British initiated the first active laminar flow control project. In1955 three de Havilland Vampire jet fighters were fitted with several kinds of porous wingsurfaces through which the turbulent air closest to the wing was vacuumed away to createlaminar flow. NASA was at the same time trying a similar strategy on a Lockheed F-94interceptor, another straight-wing jet.

Both tests worked, after a fashion, but the airplanes were encumbered with complex extrasystems, requiring considerable power to run the suction pumps. The tiny holes in the Vampires'wings--which actually weren't all that tiny--set up their own airflow disturbances and weakenedthe wing skin enough to cause it to deform in flight.

In 1966, Northrop and the U.S. Air Force ... built two of the largest X-planes ever flown: the X-21As. The experimental twin-jets started life as weather-reconaissance Douglas WB-66 jets,electronic warfare versions of which saw service over Vietnam. Under a distinctive humpedback, each X-21 sported a swept laminar flow control wing lined with thousands of spanwiserazor-thin slits that were in turn perforated with over 815,000 minuscule holes, each of whichsucked away turbulent air into a vast internal network of nearly 68,000 ducts, all leading to a pair

of high-pressure pumps under the wings. The B-66's main engines were moved from their under-wing pylons to aft shoulder mounts like those on a typical business jet.

The X-21s were meant to prove not only that active laminar flow was achievable but that such asystem could be manufactured, maintained, and operated in an everyday environment. "The X-21As proved conclusively that...[laminar flow control] is both effective and viable,"experimental-aircraft authority Jay Miller writes in his book The X-Planes. "However, they alsodemonstrated that LFC incurred certain maintenance penalties that were not easily
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag


5/9

overcome...[and] that production technology for manufacturing LFC surfaces and relatedcomponents was...prohibitively expensive for all but experimental aircraft."

The X-21A program had demonstrated that active laminar flow could be achieved using a hand-built wing that required constant maintenance--much of it devoted to keeping the pinholes from

clogging with dust, dirt, and bugs--and enough power on board to run the hungry pumps. Activelaminar flow control seemed to be a laboratory oddity with no hope of practical application.Unfortunately, that may be nearly as true today as it was in 1966.

The size and shape of the pinholes--and tuning the exact amount of suction applied throughthem--are the keys to the success or failure of any active laminar flow control system. In the1940s and '50s, the trick was drilling the holes small enough or finding a porous wing materialstrong enough. In the '60s and '70s, the holes got smaller and more precise, but the problembecame one of keeping them from clogging with dust and dirt.

Originally published in Air & Space/Smithsonian Magazine, JUN/JUL 1995. Copyright 1995, SmithsonianInstitution. All rights reserved.

Laminar Flow

When the velocity of motion is slow enough, all fluid flow starts out as laminar flow. ThePhysics description of laminar flow is that a very thin layer of the fluid against the airfoil doesnot move along the airfoil; and a second thin layer just outside of that layer slowly slides acrossthe first layer (WITHOUT ANY MIXING) as though they were large sheets of slippery plasticsheeting, or the way a brand new deck of oiled playing cards allows each layer to freely slipalong the next. In laminar flow, the top such layer is described as being the outer edge of aboundary layer which is the term that describes the entire stack.

In considering the new deck of cards example, one can see why laminar flow allows extremelyeasy and free passage of the fluid (air) to go past with extremely low friction (drag). A chart onpage 100 of the book referenced above shows that the Skin Friction Coefficient for

Laminar Flow, at speeds that conventional airliners fly at, is around 1/7 as great as the

same coefficient for Turbulent Flow.

There are some characteristics of air which affect just how smoothly the air can go by an airfoil,particularly the density of the air and the dynamic viscosity of the air. The (relative) velocity ofthe air is also very important, as is the length of time (distance) that the air is moving along thatboundary layer. There is a defined number, called the Reynold's number which is generally

used in calculations. If we consider an airliner wing at 30,000 feet altitude, the temperature isvery cold and the air pressure is rather low, but the density and dynamic viscosity are both wellknown, and the Reynold's number is given by:Re = 4100 * V(mph) * L(feet).

For an airliner flying at 500 mph, by the time that the air has gone (L = 1) one foot along theairfoil surface, the Reynold's number is already 4100 * 500 * 1 or around 2,000,000. A keyusefulness of the Reynold's number is in determining whether laminar or turbulent flow exists. A
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag


6/9

common guideline is that if the Reynold's number is above about 500,000, laminar flow ceases.Therefore, we would be considering a situation where laminar flow had already disappeared andfully turbulent flow was acting. This situation would then apply for the remaining 12 feet ofwing width, where fully turbulent flow exists.

On page 105 of that book, "For viscous flows at very low Reynold's numbers, as in oil, alldisturbances are damped out by the viscosity, and the flow is laminar regardless of the magnitudeof any disturbance. As the Reynold's number is increased, a condition is reached at which someparticular types of disturbances are amplified and eventually cause transition [into turbulentflow]. ... Further increase of the Reynold's number causes amplification to occur for a greatervariety of disturbances and increases the rate of amplification."

Lower on that same page, there is a discussion regarding the amplification factor of disturbances(turbulences) of various frequencies. References to assorted theoretical and experimentalresearch efforts regarding various frequencies are cited there. The specific point here is that there

ARE distinct frequencies involved. An extensive section, from page 143 through 182, discusses"Effect of Surface Condition on Lift Characteristics". This section primarily identifies threeprimary sources of disturbances: (a) surface irregularities; (b) surface waviness; and (c) engine oraircraft vibration.

Regarding surface irregularities, page 157 mentions that dust particles on the wing surface, nearthe leading edge, tend to cause the transition from laminar to turbulent flow to occur. Thefrequency of such disturbances tend to depend on the relative airspeed and certain dimensions ofthe object and the wing. A reference is made that dust particles which adhere to the oil fromhuman fingerprints may be expected to cause transition to turbulent flow! Extensive discussion isabout polishing and waxing the wing surfaces and various types of paint finishes, to minimize

aerodynamic drag. However, the general conclusion reached is that wings that are in actualsituations will have dust, ice, insects, and possibly battle damage, and that attempts to providesuper smooth surfaces might not be practical, because of the amazing sensitivity regarding reallytiny particles initiating the onset of turbulence.

Regarding surface waviness, page 164 mentions that standard construction techniques causemore difficulty in limiting chord-wise surface waviness than in maintaining the required surfacesmoothness. The specific point here is that surface waviness always has a characteristic length,and between that length and the airspeed, a specific frequency of created turbulence woulddevelop from such surface defects.

Page 173 begins the discussion of airframe and motor vibrations. Again, the only importantconcern here is that such vibrations have natural frequencies, which depend on structuralcharacteristics of the airframe and the engines.

The result of this is that all of the three sources of turbulence have initial natural frequencies atwhich the turbulence begins. It is certainly true that very quickly, combinations and harmonics
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag


7/9

get amplified, and there is soon a very complex combination of such frequencies acting, but nearthe very onset of turbulence, there are relatively fewer.

I have invented a system, in either of two configurations, which rapidly identifies the frequenciesand amplitudes and even the shapes of the early turbulence, and then uses a long-proven

principle of Physics called destructive interference, to entirely cancel it out. Actually, about thesame time I invented my approach, others started working on a somewhat different variant basedon the same concept, which is now generally referred to as MEMS. Their approach involvesmicroscopic devices and processes, which results in extremely delicate equipment!

In either my approach or the MEMS approach, the net effect will be as though there had beenessentially no incipient turbulence in the first place! This then has the effect of shifting thetransition from laminar to turbulent flow rearward along the airfoil surface. Repeated identicalmodules behind them sense any newer incipient turbulence and cancel it out. If the entire airfoilsurface is covered with such modules, then ANY turbulences, from any source causes, wouldalways be promptly cancelled out. The result would be a nearly laminar flow along the entire

chord of the airfoil. The effect cannot be perfect, because additional small turbulences begin inthe brief period during processing, so pure laminar flow would probably not occur. However,those new small turbulences would then be cancelled out by the next module rearward. Large-scale turbulence is therefore impossible with this system.

Considering that a modern wing has so much turbulence as to cause around seven times theamount of aerodynamic drag that a purely laminar flow would cause, this improvement couldtheoretically reduce aerodynamic drag by 86%, down to 1/7 of what is now consideredunavoidable. That situation would result in a fuel consumption of around 1/7 as much as occurstoday. That theoretical possibility is unrealistic, I think, but if this TURCAN (TURbulenceCANcellation) can reduce fuel consumption by even half, 50%, enormous economic benefitswould result.

The invention involves only technologies which currently exist! They are combined in wayswhich have not previously been done, to enable this new capability. It has become wellestablished that corrections can be made at least 10,000 times per second, by existing equipment.In the case of an aircraft which is traveling at 500 mph or 800 feet per second, the relative airmovement is just one inch in 0.0001 second, which suggests that suitable corrections and wavecancellations can be made before turbulences become mutated very much.

As I am merely a Physicist and not in the Aeronautical industry, I do not happen to have accessto a wind tunnel to test any prototypes! Therefore, my progress regarding developing thisinvention is somewhat stalled!

In early 2003, after initiating US Patent procedures, some contacts were made with individuals atBoeing, McDonald-Douglass and other aircraft designers (who each have their own windtunnels!) In each case, I was told that they employed the world's most brilliant Engineers andDesigners and if any idea was worthwhile, THEY would have thought of it! Interesting! (Theyhaven't!) I have some really sad (and funny) e-mails from several of those "hot-shot" Engineers
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag


8/9

who, without actually understanding the concept at all, felt the need to try to humiliate me in anassortment of ways. Fortunately, having gotten my College Degree from the University ofChicago in Nuclear Physics, I am not usually intimidated by the pseudo-intellect of people whobelieve they know it all! Particularly when they make it clear that they didn't even examine whatit is that they are criticizing!

After assorted frustrating communications like that, it seemed clear that I was expected to "jumpthrough hoops" for them, to somehow "earn" their valuable time. That's not going to happen! InPhysics, a hypothesis must be very well researched in order to have any potential merit; I believeI have already done that with this Turcan concept. The kindest response I received was from alower-ranked Engineer who informed me that I should develop the technology, build asubstantial-sized prototype and wind tunnel test it, and THEN they MIGHT consider looking atit! So, apparently, rather than even bothering to read the descriptions that I sent to them, theyexpected me to personally spend maybe $1,000,000 or more first? Well, that's not going tohappen either!

It seems to me that they should have been VERY interested in "wasting" at least a few minuteswith me! The US Government is currently (2003) financing some extensive research whichHOPES to reduce aerodynamic drag by 3% but actually expects the benefit to be around 1.5%improvement. That research is taking many years and many millions of dollars. I am proposing afar simpler and more reliable system which, if it only performs TWENTY TIMES that well (30%reduction of aerodynamic drag), I will consider it somewhat of a disappointment! And thetechnology is already well developed and seems capable of being incorporated into both existingand new aircraft within a year.

Wouldn't it seem worth wasting a few minutes of someone's time to patiently listen about such apossibility? After all, if an aircraft manufacturer was able to offer a design that had such

tremendous improvements regarding fuel consumption (the largest individual expense of allairlines), wouldn't it seem that that manufacturer would then sell new aircraft to replace nearlyevery airliner in the world? But, I guess, as a Physicist, I couldn't know such things!

No, I will NOT fill out endless paperwork in order to qualify to apply for permission to presentsuch an invention, either to an aircraft manufacturer or government agencies. So, it may be along time that airlines each spend millions of extra dollars every day for Jet fuel. If some airlineexecutive some day sees this and sees value in potentially saving a few billion dollars every yearfor his company, maybe some progress can happen. Otherwise, I have tried my best to enablethat savings to happen. I have also tried my best to enable American aircraft manufacturers tosell a LOT of new aircraft. I find all this both peculiar and interesting!

This Turcan concept is entirely based on existing technologies. It is essentially simply anexample of a standard Physics principle of "destructive interference of wave phenomena" whereany wave motion or phenomenon can be "nulled out" by introducing an identical wave motionthat is exactly out of phase with it. The net result is no wave motion at all. The actual device issomewhat more complex than that, of course! It is also quite unique from the MEMS approach,and far more durable.
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Draghttp://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag


9/9
http://www.mb-soft.com/mailp.php?Low_Drag

affect of reducing drag

Documents