Making a multi-material leading edge for natural-laminar flow

Kurzfassung

Natural laminar flow (NLF) on the wings' upper surfaces and leading edges is considered one of the most effective approaches to reduce fuel-consumption for next-generation aircraft. The aerodynamic drag can be substantially reduced when NLF is realized. However, even for environmentally friendly, next-generation aircraft, part manufacturing, assembly and maintenance must be affordable. Thus, achieving NLF-ready composite part quality is only one side of the coin. Having design concepts, which assure affordability and maintenance-readiness, is the other side. This whitepaper reports on activities in context of making NLF-ready composite wing structures of the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Lightweight Systems, which were executed within the NACOR project (Clean Sky 2). The article focuses on the making of a full-scale multi-material composite leading edge component