A Fundamental Principle of Aeronautical Engineering Has Been Overturned

https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/japanese/2026/05/press20260512-02-DMR.html

by mhb • 2 months ago

31 20 2 months ago

tohoku.ac.jp

mhb• 2 months ago

https://www.wired.com/story/a-fundamental-principle-of-aeron...

ferryth• 2 months ago

https://archive.ph/sFjKf

paulhart• 2 months ago

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-fluid-mec...

ThrowawayTestr• 2 months ago

A 43% drag reduction is massive if this is applicable to modern planes.

dyauspitr• 2 months ago

43% less friction means 43% of fuel saved. Am I reading that right because it will change the world if true.

tagawa• 2 months ago

Not quite.

- The 43% is peak drag reduction in the transition zone only, the bit between laminar and turbulent flow, not across all flight conditions.

- Aerodynamic drag is one part of fuel burn, not a 1:1 proxy. There's also engine efficiency, etc.

- This is skin friction drag on a wind tunnel model, not a full aircraft which has extra bits like windscreen wipers.

I still think it's exciting but I reckon fuel savings would amount to a few percent (aeronautical engineers, please correct me if I'm wrong).

amelius• 2 months ago

Discussed previously (132 comments):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48260117

zuzululu5• 2 months ago

Are we just expected to understand Japanese ? There's no English version

gerdesj2• 2 months ago

Its 2026.

Your browser can probably provide a reasonable translation on demand from a nearby service. FF on Linux does, so surely whatever you are rocking can manage it too.

There are lots more options.

zuzululu5• 2 months ago

Yes I am aware that it is the year 2026 but I don't use Firefox and there is no way to translate it. Last time I checked HN is still an English language public square, while there's instances of different languages used its more often for the comments.

DivingForGold• 1 month ago

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-fluid-mec...

zuzululu5• 1 month ago

Thank you, why wasn't this article posted as the submission website? Anyways if true this could have big ramifications for aviation. I suspect most of those could result in fuel savings.

adamfp• 2 months ago

Australian company Mako has been applying ribbed micro-surfaces to aeroplanes for a few years now, with extremely promising results.

They talk about reducing skin friction drag but due to the translation I'm not sure if that's what this article is referring to as well.

VerifiedReports• 2 months ago

If this is the previously-discussed one, the difference here is that it's not ribbing so it's not directional.

syntaxing• 2 months ago

Fluid mechanics was my jam before my software engineer days! Unfortunately, I think the FAA strict regulations will prevent any of the good innovations. But you can do this thing called flow control where you can control where the boundary layer detaches on the wing. You can achieve different L/D ratios and save a TON of fuel cost. NASA supposedly was going to try it on the X-37B but civilians never knew if they did or not.

A Fundamental Principle of Aeronautical Engineering Has Been Overturned

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