TrendsWide
Contact US
  • Home
  • Trending
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • Reviews
No Result
View All Result
TrendsWide
  • Home
  • Trending
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • Reviews
No Result
View All Result
TrendsWide
No Result
View All Result
Home Uncategorized

Airbus investigates formation flight fuel savings

by souhaib
September 28, 2020
in Uncategorized
0
Airbus investigates formation flight fuel savings
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT


You might also like

Agile Time Management Project Management

Pfizer says it expects data on COVID-19 vaccines for children in ‘early part of 2021’

John Oliver on the new 'Last Week Tonight' season and if Trump was good for comedy

(CNN) — Birds are the undisputed masters of aerodynamics.

No matter how many supercomputers and wind tunnels scientists throw at solving flight’s thorny calculations, they’ll never match the perfection of airborne avians.

A focused peregrine falcon diving on its prey, a pair of feisty hummingbirds in a territorial dogfight, or a huge albatross soaring effortlessly for days over the ocean are the envy of aerodynamicists and pilots.

The airborne cacophony of a huge flock of geese, honking away while flying in a perfect “V” formation, is a wonder to see and hear.

Airbus fello fly

Airbus

Those formations have also provided the inspiration for researchers at Airbus UpNext, the aircraft manufacturer’s future-flight demonstration and technology incubator.

As far back as a century ago, avian scientists began to understand that birds were increasing aerodynamic efficiencies by flying in close formation, taking advantage of the changed airflow in each bird’s wake.

With that in mind, the Airbus fello’fly flight demonstration project will fly two large commercial aircraft in formation, looking to mimic the energy savings of our feathered friends.

Building on test flights in 2016 with an Airbus A380 megajet and A350-900 wide-body jetliner, fello’fly hopes to demonstrate and quantify the aerodynamic efficiencies while developing in-flight operational procedures.

Initial flight testing with two A350s began in March 2020. The program will be expanded next year to include the involvement of Frenchbee and SAS airlines, along with air traffic control and air navigation service providers from France, the UK, and Europe.

“It’s very, very different from what the military would call formation flight. It’s really nothing to do with close formation,” explained Dr. Sandra Bour Schaeffer, CEO of Airbus UpNext, in an interview with CNN Travel.

Free Lift

Birds fly in a "V" formation to increase aerodynamic efficencies.

Birds fly in a “V” formation to increase aerodynamic efficencies.

PATRICK PLEUL/DPA/DPA/AFP via Getty Images

An aircraft in flight sheds a core of rotating air from the end of its wings, known as a “wingtip vortex.”

Extremely powerful vortices — especially those generated by a large aircraft — have been known to flip smaller planes that have encountered the horizontal tornado of air streaming behind.

Avoiding wake turbulence is part of a student pilot’s curriculum, as it will be in the fello’fly demonstration. “Pilots are trained to not fly into the vortex of a preceding aircraft,” said Bour Schaeffer, an experienced flight-test engineer.

“They will be 1 1/2 to 2 nautical miles away from the leading aircraft, and slightly offset, which means they are on the side of the vortex. It’s no longer the vortex, it’s the smooth current of rotating air which is next to the vortex, and we use the updraft of this air.”

Taking advantage of the free lift in this updraft of air is called “wake-energy retrieval.” Bour Schaeffer says that upcoming flight trials using two A350s could prove that on long-haul flights, fuel savings of between 5% and 10% may be achieved, “which is an enormous number. This is the reason why we want to accelerate it. It is not a product today, but it is something we strongly believe in.”

Millions of years

While it may seem simple to just watch a flock of birds to figure out the aerodynamics of their energy-saving flight, it really isn’t.

“Birds have been doing this for millions of years, but the disadvantage we have is that we can’t do controlled experiments very easily,” said Dr. Charles Bishop, of the School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, in Gwynedd, Wales.

Airbus fello fly

Airbus’s fello’fly project tries to mimic the energy savings of birds’ “V” formation.

Airbus

However, Bishop cited a landmark 2001 paper in weekly international journal Nature by Henri Weimerskirch, where the researcher and his team had access to tame pelicans — known in the birding community as the best at formation flight, even better than geese or swans.

“Their study is technically the only one that shows direct evidence of energetic advantage rather than theoretical calculations in aerodynamics.”

Weimerskirch was able to put heart rate monitors on the birds, and according to Bishop, the trailing pelicans in the formation clearly saved energy.

“They had a 14% drop in heart rate, and they also glided more. They were finding it easy [to fly] with this aerodynamic advantage.”

Practical challenges

And just like the pelicans, the pilots of the trailing A350 in the fello’fly test will position the aircraft to optimize the effect of the upwash — but that points to one of the challenges facing the research team.

“You can’t see the wake, so you just can’t say ‘Ah, I’m in the right spot,'” said Bour Schaeffer. “We need to provide assistance to the pilot to position the aircraft properly.”

Once in the upwash, autoflight systems will be required to maintain the correct position, reducing the workload on the pilots and ensuring a smooth ride for passengers by avoiding the more turbulent components of the wake.

Procedures to enable the two aircraft to coordinate their position will be tested — much like during an aerial refueling mission.

“We need to make sure we can do the joining safely. We will have no compromise on safety, whatsoever,” said Bour Schaeffer.

Once the wake energy retrieval concept is proven out, operational and financial considerations will still have to be solved.

According to Bour Schaeffer, air traffic service providers and government aviation agencies will need to be convinced to change regulations to allow for much closer aircraft separation standards than what are currently in place.

Flight planning procedures will have to be developed for planes to match routes with other aircraft, along with positions and altitudes to begin a formation flight.

And a process to share the savings in fuel costs amongst airlines will be a priority.

“We know there are questions. Our aim as a demonstrator is to find answers to those questions.”

Howard Slutsken is a regular contributor to aviation magazines and blogs, and is based in Vancouver BC.



Source link

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Pinterest
  • Telegram
  • Email
Tags: usa today
Share30Tweet19
Previous Post

The Ultimate Web Graphics Package From Web Graphics 360.com

Next Post

China’s bond market boosted by easy money policies

souhaib

Recommended For You

Agile Time Management Project Management

by souhaib
March 19, 2021
0

Time management Project management is very important.  If you are an owner of the company often the CEO without being the managing director, the one who must be...

Read more

Pfizer says it expects data on COVID-19 vaccines for children in ‘early part of 2021’

by souhaib
February 11, 2021
0
Pfizer says it expects data on COVID-19 vaccines for children in 'early part of 2021'

Both Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc say they expect to have data on how well their coronavirus vaccines work in teenagers later this year.Currently, immunizations against COVID-19 are...

Read more

John Oliver on the new 'Last Week Tonight' season and if Trump was good for comedy

by souhaib
February 11, 2021
0
John Oliver on the new 'Last Week Tonight' season and if Trump was good for comedy

John Oliver talked with USA TODAY TV Editor Gary Levin about the new season of "Last Week Tonight" and why he won't miss President Trump.        Source link

Read more

Dr Fauci declares April ‘open season’ for COVID-19 vaccinatoins

by souhaib
February 11, 2021
0
Dr Fauci declares April 'open season' for COVID-19 vaccinatoins

Dr Fauci declares April 'open season' for any American adult to get a COVID-19 vaccine and predicts the 'majority' of Americans will have two doses by fallDr Anthony...

Read more

Biden administration fears it could take nine months to reach herd immunity

by souhaib
February 11, 2021
0
Biden administration fears it could take nine months to reach herd immunity

The US may not reach herd immunity and return to some semblance of normalcy until Thanksgiving at the current pace of COVID-19 vaccinations and speed of variant spread,...

Read more
Next Post
China’s bond market boosted by easy money policies

China’s bond market boosted by easy money policies

No Result
View All Result

Recent Posts

  • Know the relevance of an Search engine marketing and an agency
  • Twitter Has to Give Musk Only 1 Bot Checker’s Knowledge: Its Ex-Product Head
  • Home Reviews 2022
  • The euro falls due to risk aversion
  • rape

Browse by Category

  • Australia
  • Automotive
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Deals
  • Economie
  • Education
  • Euro
  • Forex
  • Gaming
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Sports
  • Switzerland
  • Trending
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized

Categories

  • Australia
  • Automotive
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Deals
  • Economie
  • Education
  • Euro
  • Forex
  • Gaming
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Sports
  • Switzerland
  • Trending
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized

Pages

  • Contact US
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions

© 2021 - TrendsWide

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Contact US
  • Privacy Policy
  • Trending
  • U.S.
  • Economie
  • Deals
  • Reviews
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Health
  • Life Style
  • NBA

© 2021 - TrendsWide