Breakthrough in Wing Design by Chinese Research Team to Reduce Sonic Boom and Improve Aerodynamic Efficiency

TapTechNews August 12th news, the research team from Northwestern Polytechnical University in China has made a breakthrough and developed a new type of wing design with holes, which is expected to effectively reduce the sonic boom and improve the aerodynamic efficiency of the aircraft.

As is known to all, the sonic boom is a shock wave generated during supersonic flight, which not only causes huge noise pollution, but may even lead to the breakage of building glass, which is also a key obstacle restricting the development of supersonic civil aircraft. The traditional wing design follows the Bernoulli principle, that is, the air flow velocity on the upper surface of the wing is faster and the pressure is lower, while the air flow velocity on the lower surface is slower and the pressure is higher, thereby generating lift. However, when the aircraft approaches the speed of sound, a shock wave will form around the wing, resulting in increased turbulence and drag, thereby reducing lift and generating harmful vibrations.

The research team is led by Professor Gao Chao from the School of Aeronautics. Through computer simulation and wind tunnel experiments, they found that designing specific holes in the wing can effectively disrupt the shock wave, reduce vibrations, and at the same time can increase the aerodynamic efficiency by more than 10%.

At present, there are only a few countries that can manufacture supersonic aircraft, because this requires special and expensive materials to withstand the huge pressure generated by supersonic flight. In addition, the sonic boom problem has led to strict restrictions on the flight of supersonic aircraft in densely populated areas, and finally led to the retirement of the Concorde supersonic airliner in 2003.

The team's solution is simple and ingenious. They install a device on the wing holes that will only open when the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound, thereby effectively controlling the air flow around the wing. There is also an air pump inside the hole, which can adjust the jet intensity and reduce the turbulence at the leading edge of the wing, thereby reducing the wing vibration. Although this design will slightly reduce the lift, the reduction of the overall drag makes the lift-drag ratio increase instead.

At present, the team is planning to conduct further wind tunnel tests to improve this technology. At the same time, TapTechNews noticed that many research teams around the world are also actively exploring ways to solve the problem of supersonic flight, including adding grooves or protrusions on the wing surface, using mechanical devices to suppress shock waves, and applying piezoelectric thin films to control the air flow. The experimental supersonic aircraft X-59 jointly developed by NASA and Lockheed Martin is scheduled to conduct its first test flight this year, which adopts a slender nose and a cockpit without a front windshield, aiming to significantly reduce the sonic boom noise.

Professor Gao Chao's team is full of confidence in their solution. They pointed out in the research report: Using jet control to suppress shock wave jitter, although the lift is slightly lost, the total drag can be reduced, so the lift-drag ratio increases instead.

The research results of this team have been published in the Journal of Aerodynamics.