Research database

Innovative riblet geometries for the friction drag reduction will be investigated in this project via a combination of state-of-the-art experimental techniques and numerical simulation. For conventional airborne vehicles, friction drag represents the most significant share in the drag breakdown, accounting for nearly 50% during cruise. Reducing this share even of a few points has an immediate impact on the carbon footprint of the air transport system. If on one hand this would reduce the fuel consumption, the strong push towards a fully electric aircraft poses the problem of the autonomy and weight of the batteries that need to be stored onboard. The results of this project aim at pushing the boundaries of the understanding of the fluid mechanics of turbulent boundary layers when manipulated with micro-roughness. A novel non-intrusive experimental approach based on IR Thermography will be developed and validated against existing and well assessed techniques, such as load cell measurements and Particle Image Velocimetry. On the other hand, an efficient approach to the numerical simulation of complex flows where the geometry manipulation can be efficiently represented by appropriate boundary conditions will be developed, implemented, and compared with the experimental data. The outcomes of the project will represent a leap forward for the scientific community interested in wall bounded flows, drag reduction and, as a direct consequence, on mitigating the carbon footprint of the air transport system. Two research units will be involved in this project: Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo) and Università di Napoli Federico II (UniNa). The experimental activities will be carried out at Politecnico di Torino, with the support of UniNa, while the numerical simulations will be performed by the research unit at UniNa. The project will have a significative and strong scientific impact on a considerable number of areas including experimental methods, numerical simulation, and the physical understanding of wall bounded flows developing on rough surfaces.