Riblets for Green Aviation

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on novel surface technologies, particularly micro-riblet coatings, that can substantially improve the aerodynamic efficicency of an aircraft, thereby reducing fuel consumption and improving the environmental footprint of the aerospace industry. As of 2022, aviation contributes to about 2.3% of global greenhouse gases (GHG) emission, which is expected to rise considerably due to the increasing demands for air transportation. Although there has been significant research and development effort towards creating low-emission engine systems for transport aircraft, it will be decades before the industry achieves its goal of zero emissions. In the meantime, technologies such as friction drag reduction represent viable solutions to fight climate change in the coming years. Much like the physics behind using shark skins for drag reduction, aerodynamic drag reduction by means of engineered surface coatings in the form of riblets can reduce turbulent drag and improve aerodynamic efficiency. Early work by Airbus A320 in the late 1980s showed that riblet technologies could reduce fuel consumption by 2% as compared to the conventional aircraft design with smooth surfaces. With the so-called “AeroShark” coating, using prism-shaped micro-riblets on the lower fuselage of a Boeing 747-400 plane, Lufthansa Technik achieved a reduction in fuel consumption of 0.8% or a GHG reduction of 900 metric tons per year per aircraft. Nevertheless, the riblet coating technologies are not yet mature. Much research and development remain to be completed before their successful implementation. This Special Issue explores the frontier technologies related to riblets for drag reduction of the airframe and engines. Topics covered include riblet design and optimization, testing and modelling, riblet materials and durability, riblet fabrication, implementation and certification. This Special Issue also covers the other applications of riblet technologies, such as in wind farms and shipping, towards building a greener future.

Dr. Naiheng Song
Dr. Lucy Li
Guest Editors

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• riblet coating
• drag reduction
• fuel consumption
• 2D and 3D riblet design
• computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
• effect of defects
• modelling
• materials
• testing
• fabrication
• application
• aerospace
• wind farm
• marine ships