What Scorpions Have To Teach Aircraft Designers

First time accepted submitter elloGov writes "The north African desert scorpion, Androctonus australis, is a hardy creature. Most animals that live in deserts dig burrows to protect themselves from the sand-laden wind. Not Androctonus; it usually toughs things out at the surface. Yet when the sand whips by at speeds that would strip paint away from steel, the scorpion is able to scurry off without apparent damage thanks to the unique structure of its carapace. Dr Han Zhiwu of Jilin University and colleagues have found that surface irregularities based on the scorpion's exoskeleton could substantially minimize atmospheric dust damage to aircraft."

Re:so what about drag?

[Tastecicles]

My guess would be (disclaimer: I am not an aerodynamicist) that surface irregularities of a certain size proportional to the overall aerodynamic characteristic would not affect it - much unlike the golf ball. Those turbulent areas immediately aft those dimples form a static bubble of high or low pressure (depending on the vector and position of the dimple relative to the centre of mass) which cause the desired effect. In a Stealth aircraft those irregularities are designed to not affect the aerodynamic behaviour in any way: what they do, is to reduce the RADAR signature of the aircraft, hence their size is calculated for maximum RADAR dispersion. We're talking bumps, curves and ridges of less than 1/64" high. Barely enough to detect even with bare fingertips.

On the other hand, you can make a brick fly. Look at the Rockwell Constellation series space shuttle orbiters.

Re:What about drag

[butalearner]

There are a few types of drag, but for now let's just consider skin friction drag and pressure drag. For a smooth sphere the size golf ball, pressure drag (or wake drag, caused by the flow separation), is significantly higher than the skin friction because the surface area of the sphere is so small. The dimples introduce turbulence in the boundary layer (increasing skin friction) in order to delay flow separation (significantly reducing wake drag).

For an airplane, however, this situation is reversed. The surface area is enormous, and since the shapes of the wings and the fuselage are such that they delay flow separation as long as possible, the skin friction drag is significantly higher than the wake drag. Introducing dimples will decrease wake drag like a golf ball, but it will increase the skin friction more, causing a net increase in drag.

Re:What about drag

[I(rispee_I(reme]

They add dimples to golf balls to increase their flight distance and straighten their flight trajectories specifically to disrupt laminar flow, because over a sphere, turbulent flow actually can work better, if the dimples are just the right size and have just the right irregularity.

National Geographic's "Ultimate Crocodile" has a segment where the surface of a crocodile's skin is found to have similar properties. Seems that a fish's reaction time is more than sufficient to avoid a croc's bite if the fish is alerted. A cast of a crocodile head was used in a tank to measure the way water flows around a crocodile in motion, and it was proven that the bumpy irregularities on the crocodile's skin produce lower water pressure and the crocodile's body and help it maintain stealth.

I can't find the clip, but it's referenced here [natgeoeducationvideo.com].

Re:What about drag

[Tastecicles]

the Nighthawk is designed, like the F-16 Falcon, to be unstable in flight. That is what gives it the important characteristic of being able to turn on a dime hence makes it ideal for close proximity combat flying as well as improved avoidance of eg missiles, cannon shells. Such instability cannot be corrected in real time by a pilot who also has the usual other shit to do in the cockpit like watch where he's going, keep a bead on the RADAR, make flight decisions... it would be far too much of a distraction and besides, if he *could* think that fast he'd be teaching Hawking. That's why instead of a copilot they have a somewhat lighter computer dedicated to maintaining trim.

Re:What about drag

[crutchy]

at supersonic speeds (the nighthawk's max speed is only Mach 0.92, but at that speed the local airspeed over the upper surface of the wing would be transonic), things get a bit iffy. subsonic aerodynamics don't work at transonic and supersonic speeds. you get normal and oblique shockwaves, and supersonic nozzles behave like subsonic diffusers and vice versa. sharp corners produce less drag and heat than smoothly curving surfaces

Re:What about drag

[Anonymous Coward]

http://xkcd.com/397/ [xkcd.com]