Currently viewing the tag: "Aerospace"

High-Lift Devices

On April 21, 2012 · In Aerodynamics, Bio-mimicry

In a previous post I introduced the concept of boundary layer separation and how aquatic animals actively or passively morph their skins to delay this phenomenon. As a brief recap, when flow over a surface encounters an adverse pressure gradient (i.e. the fluid pressure increases in […]

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The Start of a New Era

On April 19, 2012 · In History, News

Put frankly, the Space Shuttle is probably the most powerful machine ever constructed. One of the earliest astronauts aptly described the Shuttle as “A very beautiful butterfly bolted to a bullet”!

During launch the three solid-rocket boosters output 37 MILLION horsepower sucking fuel through a 17-inch diameter pipe at a rate that would empty an Olympic […]

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Breaking the Sound Barrier

On April 11, 2012 · In History

The Battle of Hastings in 1066 marked the last successful conquer of the British Isles. In the summer of 1940 the Spitfire prevented the most recent attempt of invasion and marked one of the turning points in WWII. Between July and October 1940 an astonishing 747 Spitfires were delivered of which 361 were destroyed and […]

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Dreams of Flight

On April 9, 2012 · In Bio-mimicry, History

Since the early days of human intelligence the dream of flying and the idea that we are not alone in this universe has possessed the human mind. In the second century AD the Greek writer Lucian describes a trip to the moon in his book Vera Historia, in which Lucian’s ship is caught in a […]

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The Birth of the Jet: The Engine that Shrunk the World

On April 7, 2012 · In Case Studies, History

In today’s time it is easy to take for granted the complex inventions that alleviate our everyday life. The modern jet propelled airplanes for example, are one of the biggest drivers behind rapid globalisation and play a major role in world trade. Nevertheless, the development that revolutionised aviation and inaugurated the era of jumbo jets […]

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Bio-mimetic Drag Reduction – Part 3: Morphing

On April 5, 2012 · In Aerodynamics, Bio-mimicry

In the previous two posts of this blog series I introduced the different sensing mechanism that aquatic animals possess to create spatial images of the largely turbulent flow fields around them. Flow sensing has been shown to […]

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Bio-mimetic Drag Reduction – Part 2: Aero- and Hydrodynamics

On March 31, 2012 · In Aerodynamics, Bio-mimicry

Part 1 of this blog series outlined the different sensing mechanisms that aquatic animals possess to create spatial images of the flow fields around them. In summary fish were found to possess a network of mechanosensors distributed over their bodies called the lateral line. The lateral line […]

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Bio-mimetic Drag Reduction – Part 1: Sensing

On March 27, 2012 · In Bio-mimicry

Fish have a remarkable ability to sense the flow conditions around their bodies and subsequently manipulate their swimming behaviour to achieve efficient locomotion [1 – 2]. It has been observed that dolphins and sharks use a network of mechanosensors on their skin to create a spatial image of the flow around them and […]

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