The Role of Flight Tests and Wind Tunnels in Laminar Flow Research

Kurzfassung

Laminarization of wetted surfaces on subsonic/transonic transport aircraft is one of the big challenges of the next decade. Physical phenomena have to be clarified and design tools to be developed. The new Technology must be validated in order to be applied in new aircraft. More than in current technologies flight tests play a major role in the development of this new technology. This is due to the fact that the transition laminar/turbulent is dominantly influenced by the flow turbulence and/or noise which have different levels in flight and in wind tunnels. Furthermore surface imperfections and contamination are critical features for the maintenance of laminar flow which also require flight tests. This paper will review flight testing for laminar flow research and will briefly describe the situation of the wind tunnels in this field.