![]() ![]() Initial thoughts had envisaged a complete wing for testing on a smaller aircraft, but BLADE project leader Daniel Kierbel explains that using a smaller proportion of a larger wing reduces the potential for loss of control while exploring the limit of laminar flow. The new NLF wing sections are close in size and configuration to a possible future wing for a short-range, single-aisle airliner, says Airbus. “For a typical short- to medium-range aircraft, the calculated drag benefit is up to 8% at typical Mach 0.75 cruise flight, which translates to around 4.5% fuel-burn reduction for a typical mission,” says Clean Sky.Īirbus hopes to confirm a 50% lowering in wing-friction drag, which will translate into “up to 5% block-fuel and CO2 emission reduction” if the technology is applied to short-range aircraft flying up to 800 nautical miles. The JU says that demonstrating an NLF ‘smart’ wing with associated advanced FTI equipment represents the first of eight technology streams in the SFWA flight-demonstration work package. The campaign is primarily intended “to validate the area of laminarity that can be achieved for a large variety of cruise-flight conditions with respect to altitude, Mach number and wing loading”, according to the Clean Sky joint undertaking, an EU research program that aims to reduce aircraft CO2, gas and noise emissions.Ĭlean Sky’s swept-wing future aircraft (SWFA) integrated technology demonstrator program, of which BLADE is a part, addresses integration of related new technologies for large aircraft. A second round of flights in 2018 is planned to “extensively test and characterize laminarity robustness in representative operational conditions”. Initial flying scheduled for completion this year includes assessing aircraft-handling qualities, extending the flight envelope, and taking first measurements of laminar-wing performance, according to Airbus Research and Technology senior vice president Axel Flaig. The A340BLADE during its maiden flight, from Tarbes, France to the Airbus Flight and Integration Test Centre in Toulouseīy mid-October, the machine – which is the company’s original A340-300 prototype (MSN001) – had made two more flights to confirm the low- and high-speed flight envelope, including stalls and flutter. “We checked that the FTI was working as expected, to identify further fine-tuning for the next flights.” “We achieved our objective to fly at the design Mach number, at a reasonable altitude, and check everything was fine,” reports flight test engineer Philippe Seve. ![]() The flight saw the A340BLADE achieve a speed of Mach 0.78 and cruise and maximum altitudes of 32,000ft. Laminar – or streamline – flow relates to the boundary layer of air that follows the shape of the aerofoil until disrupted by surface contaminants and other factors that generate turbulence, reducing lift and increasing drag.ĭuring the first test flight, engineers were able to observe areas of laminar flow on both new wings during what was mainly a shakedown flight for aircraft and instrumentation. The A340BLADE is “the first test aircraft to combine a transonic laminar-wing profile with a true internal primary structure”, says Airbus. Another German team installed an infrared camera pod on the fin. A much larger working party of 70 performed the 16-month FTI cabin installation in Tarbes, while Airbus teams from Bremen, Germany, and Broughton, UK, worked to fit the A340BLADE demonstrator’s outer wings. After a September 26 first flight, the manufacturer planned to fly the A340BLADE (Breakthrough Laminar Aircraft Demonstrator in Europe) test aircraft two or three times a week in October and slightly less often in November.Īhead of the 3 hour 38 minute first flight, from Tarbes in southern France (where the aircraft had been modified) to the Airbus Flight and Integration Test Centre in Toulouse, a 10-strong team of pilots and test and flight test engineers spent several months training in a simulator to familiarize themselves with planned flight test instrumentation (FTI). Airbus is busy performing the first element of a 150-hour flight test program with an A340-300 modified with natural laminar-flow (NLF) outer-wing sections that could lead to a significant reduction in drag and consequent fuel consumption.
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