048 049 A way to think about this is if you were running beneath an infinitely long train travelling extremely fast. You cannot possibly escape above because the train is too strong and fast, so you must keep running forward. Another side effect of these groovelike patterns is that, as the airflow follows a strict path, turbulent flow (airflow that moves irregularly) is minimised and therefore the drag is reduced because there is less disturbance on the plane’s surface. The other main effect of these denticles comes from the way that they are raised at the front. They want to act like a natural speed bump but do not work like that. These in no way slow down how fast the air is flowing but they do act like speed bumps in other ways. If you imagine a fast car going down a road and hitting a wide speed bump, the car will fly for a moment but eventually fall back down onto the road further along. The air is like the car. It hits the front of these denticles and leaves the immediate surface of the plane’s body. If the air is far enough away from the body for a moment, then this would result in much less skin friction drag. However, the airflow does rejoin back with the surface of the plane eventually. To combat the air rejoining the usual airflow pattern permanently, sharkskin technology uses these denticles in a repeated pattern, exactly as how sharks have them. Sharkskin resembles scales in this regard. The skin is formed of a layer of dermal denticles, made from the same material as human teeth. In this regard, following their triangular shape and material they are closer to teeth than scales however, it would be remiss to not discuss how similar the skin is to the scales of a fish. This idea of layering skin properties to minimise drag can also be seen in birds of prey, for example, the diving peregrine falcon has layers of feathers that act to reduce drag, using a similar idea. What sharkskin technology can do for the aviation industry is outstanding. 16 aircraft (from Swiss International Airlines and Lufthansa Technik) have been modified using technology based on the design of sharkskin, with promising results, proving that it is useful for reducing drag, and its effects on the planet. Since the aircraft were modified, in October 2022, 4,800 metric tons of jet fuel has been saved alongside15,000 metric tons of CO2. These results came from only a few hundred square metres of the film designed using this technology on each plane and enabled fuel savings of 1.1%. This year, the global airline industry fuel bill is set to reach 271 billion dollars, so just a 1.1% decrease could result in nearly 3 billion dollar’s worth of fuel being saved, along with associated emissions. The money saved could be reinvested into bettering and extending the technology. In conclusion, the resultant reduction in CO2 emissions, enabled by this technology, can significantly help an industry that is constantly shamed for its high CO2 emissions. As this technology is improved and becomes more manufacturable, emissions will reduce further. It both saves money and reduces CO2. It is remarkable how nature can provide us with such fascinating insights into how to solve some of the biggest problems for our planet today. Sources: https://www.lufthansa-technik.com/en/aeroshark https://www.sciencefacts.net/bernoullis-principle-and-equation.html https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsta.2010.0201 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2017.0828 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405451816300484 https://illumin.usc.edu/from-shark-skin-to-speed/ the airflow follo s a strict path, turbulent flow (airflow that moves irregularly) is minimised and therefore the drag is reduced because there is less disturbance on the plane’s surface. T other main effect of these denticles comes from the way th t they are raised at the front. They want to act like a natural speed bump but do not work like that. These in no way slow down how fast the air is flowing but they do act like speed bumps in other ways. If you imagine a fast car going down a road an hitting a wide speed bump, the car will fly for a moment but eve tually fall back down onto t e road further al g. The air is like the car. It hits the front of these denticles and leaves the immediate surface of the plane’s body. If the air is far enough away from the body for a moment, then t is would result in much less skin friction drag. However, the airflow does rejoin back with the surface of the plane eventually. To combat the air rejoining the usual airflow pattern permanently, sharkskin technology uses these denticles in a repeated pattern, exactly as how sharks have them. Sharkskin resembles scales in this regard. The skin is formed of a layer of dermal denticles, made from the same material as human teeth. In this regard, following their triangular shape and material they are closer to teeth than scales however, it would be remiss to not discuss how similar the skin is to the scales of a fish. This idea of layering skin properties to minimise drag can also be seen in birds of prey, for example, the diving peregrine falcon has layers of feathers that act to reduce drag, using a similar idea. What sharkskin technology can do for the aviation industry is outstanding. 16 aircraft (from Swiss International Airlines and Lufthansa Technik) have been modified using technology based on the design of sharkskin, with promising results, proving that it is useful for reducing drag, and its effects on the planet. Since the aircraft were modified, in October 2022, 4,800 metric tons of jet fuel has been saved alongside15,000 metric tons of CO2. These results came from only a few hundred square metres of the film, designed using this technology, on each plane and enabled fuel savings of 1.1%. This year, the global airline industry fuel bill is set to reach 271 billion dollars, so just a 1.1% decrease could result in nearly 3 billion dollars' worth of fuel being saved, along with associated emissions. The money saved could be reinvested into bettering and extending the technology. In conclusion, the resultant reduction in CO2 emissions, enabled by this technology, can Sharkskin Dermal Denticles
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