How Lasers Will Help Make Planes Quieter and More Fuel-Efficient

Jan. 13, 2015

One way to save fuel and reduce noise is to land at lower speeds, which calls for a more detailed understanding of how air moves over plane wings.

Source Wired

Lasers illuminate water droplets moving across the wing, enough for high-speed cameras to capture the movement of the droplets airstream in real time.

Over the past century, the airplane has revolutionized the way we travel and do business, and made enormous technological advances. But modern jetliners burn gobs of fuel and are still loud, especially if you live near an airport flight path. So plane manufacturers (with extra encouragement from government regulators) are always on the lookout for ways to make their aircraft quieter and more efficient.

One way to save fuel and reduce noise is to land at lower speeds, which calls for a more detailed understanding of how air moves over plane wings. Normally, aircraft designers model airflows in computer simulations and in wind tunnels, because it’s difficult to track air moving over a wing at 400 MPH. Now, a German research team is finally getting that detail from in-flight measurements. And it’s doing it with lasers.

More details here.