Innovative Braunschweig researcher fights for sustainable aviation!

Innovative Braunschweig researcher fights for sustainable aviation!

Braunschweig, Deutschland - The area of ​​sustainable aviation is becoming increasingly important, especially in times of increasing number of passengers after the pandemeine -related declines. Michelangelo Grappadelli, postdoctoral at the Institute for Flow Mechanics at the Technical University of Braunschweig, works intensively in the SE2A Excellence Cluster for Sustainable Aviation. His research focuses on innovative technologies to reduce the specific fuel consumption of civil transport aircraft.

Grappadelli built his first small wind tunnel at the age of 18 and decided during his master's thesis that he wanted to devote himself to the aerospace with a focus on experimental aerodynamics. As part of the SE2A cluster, it carries out important wind tunnel test to research the laminar border shift SOG for aviation applications. A central goal of his work is to reduce air resistance and thus achieve significant energy savings.

research focuses and results

Grappadelli has made some promising progress, such as the successful demonstration of a hybrid laminar flow control solution (HLFC) under unfavorable pressure conditions. The original goal of reducing air resistance by 33 percent has already been confirmed. Grappadelli contributes to improving the wing design through the development of new methods for the examination of border shift phenomena, such as pressure measuring points and innovative heat wire traversing probes. He also plans an exciting project to implement fuel cells in aircraft in order to further reduce the viscous air resistance.

This research is parte of the broader initiative of the Lower Saxony Research Center for Aviation (NFL), which is also active in the "Sustainable and Energy Efficient Aviation" (SE²A) in the excellence cluster. According to the CEO Rolf Radespiel, it is crucial to develop innovative technologies in order to reduce the CO2 emissions of aviation. Without proactive measures, there is a risk that the proportion of aviation in global CO2 emissions will continue to increase.

paths to climate -neutral aviation

The flight industry is not only affected by crises such as corona pandemic, it is also faced with the challenge of drastically reducing its ecological footprint. Scientists from the TU Braunschweig have outlined various paths in their position paper "Climate and Flying - Information from Aviation Research" in order to achieve climate -neutral air traffic. This includes the implementation of lighter aircraft structures and improved aerodynamic designs that are to reduce fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Future-based techniques such as laminar flow management could even reduce fuel consumption by up to 50 percent. At the same time, the development of sustainable drive technologies, such as electrical or hybrid flight drives, is considered the key to transformation of the air traffic system. In this context, the necessity of more powerful batteries and electric motors also becomes clear in order to make the aviation industry more environmentally friendly

Research on hydrogen -powered fuel cells and synthetic fuels, which are made from sustainably generated electricity, is still at the beginning, but offers promising approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Long -term basic research could thus provide decisive solutions for the challenges of modern industrial society.

Grappadelli not only sees his work as a scientific challenge, but as a personal obligation to reduce aircraft. He plans to continue to work in the field of aviation research, especially in wind tunnel tests, in order to set the course for a more environmentally friendly future of air traffic magazin.tu-braunschweig.de and magazin.tu-braunschweig.de .