鶹ѰBoulder researchers develop tiny surface vibrations that could cut aircraft drag and fuel use
At cruising speed, a commercial jet can burn more than 10,000 gallons of fuel on a single cross-country flight, much of it lost to turbulence in the boundary layer of air moving across its wings. 鶹Ѱ researchers are pursuing a way to reduce that drag without reshaping the aircraft itself, using engineered microscopic vibrations generated by synthetic materials placed beneath the surface.
Two recent papers from the team describe complementary advances—dubbed and —that allow these subsurface vibrations to work across a wider range of frequencies and larger areas than earlier designs allowed.
Aircrafts of the Future
The research is led by Mahmoud I. Hussein, professor of aerospace engineering at 鶹ѰBoulder, with , graduate research assistant and PhD alum of materials science and engineering at 鶹ѰBoulder, as a coauthor on both papers. The work builds on a $7.5 million, five-year grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research's (ONR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), awarded to Hussein in 2025 to develop phononic subsurface technology for next-generation aircraft.
“The prevailing paradigm since the beginning of aviation is to control drag by only shaping the vehicle,” Hussein said. “These two new milestones provide complementary solutions toward the puzzle that is the effectiveness of PSubs,” added Harris.
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