Novel tailored skin single duct concept for HLFC fin application

Abstract

State of the art HLFC suction panels are designed with an internal chambering to provide the cordspecific suction distribution on the outer skin. This leads to a number of constraints between aerodynamic, structural design and manufacturing. Also the manufacturing itself is highly complex due to a large number of internal chambers. Current activities of the German Aerospace Center DLR have the goal to simplify this suction nose layout by omitting the internal chambers. For this reason the so called Tailored Skin Single Duct (TSSD) concept was developed. The TSSD is based on a multilayered tailored outer skin with an intrinsic pressure drop distribution. The outer surface is realized by a micro-perforated metallic foil to ensure a homogeneous control of the boundary layer. A specific laminate on the backside of the outer layer provides the necessary cord-wise suction distribution. By the use of this tailored outer skin, only one internal collector duct with a fixed plenum pressure is necessary.