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Drag reduction via turbulent boundary layer flow control

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Abstract

Turbulent boundary layer control (TBLC) for skin-friction drag reduction is a relatively new technology made possible through the advances in computational-simulation capabilities, which have improved the understanding of the flow structures of turbulence. Advances in micro-electronic technology have enabled the fabrication of active device systems able to manipulating these structures. The combination of simulation, understanding and micro-actuation technologies offers new opportunities to significantly decrease drag, and by doing so, to increase fuel efficiency of future aircraft. The literature review that follows shows that the application of active control turbulent skin-friction drag reduction is considered of prime importance by industry, even though it is still at a low technology readiness level (TRL). This review presents the state of the art of different technologies oriented to the active and passive control for turbulent skin-friction drag reduction and contributes to the improvement of these technologies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Aeronautics, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Aeronáutica y del Espacio de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSIAE-UPM), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pza. Cardenal Cisneros 3, Madrid, E-28040, Spain

    Adel Abbas, Esteban Ferrer & Eusebio Valero

  2. International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), Gran Capità s/n, Campus Nord UPC, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    Gabriel Bugeda, Jacques Periaux & Jordi Pons-Prats

  3. Civil and Environmental Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. BarcelonaTech, Gran Capità s/n, Campus Nord UPC, Barcelona, 08034, Spain

    Gabriel Bugeda

  4. Centre for Computational Simulation-UPM, Scientific and Technological Park (Campus Montegancedo), 28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain

    Esteban Ferrer & Eusebio Valero

  5. School of Aerospace Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Song Fu

  6. School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Yao Zheng

Authors
  1. Adel Abbas
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  2. Gabriel Bugeda
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  3. Esteban Ferrer
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  4. Song Fu
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  5. Jacques Periaux
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  6. Jordi Pons-Prats
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  7. Eusebio Valero
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  8. Yao Zheng
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Correspondence to Gabriel Bugeda.

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Abbas, A., Bugeda, G., Ferrer, E. et al. Drag reduction via turbulent boundary layer flow control. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 60, 1281–1290 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-016-9013-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-016-9013-6

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