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Description:
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The high cost of energy has resulted in a renewed interest in the study of
reducing skin -friction drag in aeronautical applications . Laminar Flow Control
(LFC ) refers to any technique which alters the basic -state flow -field to delay
transition from laminar to turbulent flow . Achieving fully laminar flow over a
civilian transport wing will significantly reduce drag and fuel costs while increasing
range and performance .
Boundary -layer suction has proven to be an effective means of achieving
laminar flow over an aircraft wing as demonstrated with the Northrop X -21 program ;
however , even with the savings in fuel , the high manufacturing and maintenance
costs have discouraged the use of this technology . Recent work using threedimensional
(3 -D ) spanwise -periodic distributed roughness elements (DREs ) has
shown great promise as a means of controlling the crossflow instability responsible
for transition over a swept wing without the need for a complex suction system .
The Texas A |