THE EUROPEAN aircraft consortium, Airbus Industrie, has improved fuel efficiency by around 1 per cent in an A320 aircraft by covering most of its surface with a ridged film to reduce drag. The so-called 'riblet' film, produced by the American company 3M, is fractions of a millimetre thick, and has microscopic grooves running down its length.
The film reduces drag by damping small pockets of turbulence close to the metal surface of the aircraft. It is the product of research at NASA's Langley Research Centre in Virginia into innovative techniques of drag reduction.
Airbus Industrie is currently conducting flight tests with riblet film in a six-month programme that started in November last year. The flight tests follow year-long trials of the film on the fuselage of an Airbus A300-600 aircraft. These trials confirmed the durability of the film under normal operating conditions, and its resistance to blockage and damage.
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