B3.1 - Protective, multifunctional suction shells for hybrid laminar flow control: Design, integration, simulation and testing

Protective, multifunctional suction shells for hybrid laminar flow control: Design, integration, simulation and testing

The project ICA B3.1 aims to develop an additively manufactured, multifunctionally graded, triply periodic minimal surface wing leading edge with hybrid laminar flow control functionality resistant to high velocity impact bird strike loading.

Almost the entire wetted surface of today's commercial aircraft has a turbulent boundary layer. As a turbulent boundary layer results in viscous drag five to ten times larger than that of laminar boundary layers, hybrid laminar flow control (HLFC) has proven to be an efficient mean for drag reduction. In this approach, HLFC consists of laminar flow control (LFC) by boundary layer suction in the leading edge (LE) and natural laminar flow (NLF) by a smooth surface in the rear part of the wing. Due to the orientation in flight direction, the leading edge has to sustain high velocity impact (HVI) loads such as bird strike that may occur during flight. The general design goal is to absorb all the HVI energy within the leading edge structure to maintain structural integrity of the front spar as a main load carrying member.