Towards extending the aircraft flight envelope by mitigating transonic airfoil buffet

Abstract

In the age of globalization, commercial aviation plays a central role in maintaining our international connectivity by providing fast air transport services for passengers and freight. However, the upper limit of the aircraft flight envelope, i.e., its operational limit in the high-speed (transonic) regime, is usually fixed by the occurrence of transonic aeroelastic effects. These harmful structural vibrations are associated with an aerodynamic instability called transonic buffet. It refers to shock wave oscillations occurring on the aircraft wings, which induce unsteady aerodynamic loads acting on the wing structure. Since the structural response can cause severe structural damage endangering flight safety, the aviation industry is highly interested in suppressing transonic buffet to extend the flight envelope to higher aircraft speeds. In this contribution, we demonstrate experimentally that the application of porous trailing edges substantially attenuates the buffet phenomenon. Since porous trailing edges have the additional benefit of reducing acoustic aircraft emissions, they could prospectively provide faster air transport with reduced noise emissions.