Waggling wings cut emissions by 20%

摘要

In a surprise discovery, UK engineers have found that aircraft wings which redirect air to waggle sideways could cut airline fuel bills by 20%. The new approach, which promises to dramatically reduce mid-flight drag, uses tiny air powered jets which redirect the air, making it flow sideways back and forth over the wing. The jets work by the Helmholtz resonance principle - when air is forced into a cavity the pressure increases, which forces air out and sucks it back in again, causing an oscillation - the same phenomenon that happens when blowing over a bottle.