SaFuMa is a joint research project with the overall objective of investigating various passive methods with regard to their potential for flutter suppression on high-aspect-ratio wings and fan rotor blades and to better understand the underlying physical phenomena.
Passenger aircraft operate in the transonic regime. Although the cruise speed is well below the speed of sound, the acceleration of the airflow over the wing causes local areas of supersonic flow. To maximize aerodynamic efficiency, the wings of modern commercial aircraft have increasingly longer spans and aspect ratios. This reduces drag and thus fuel consumption, but the larger span of the wing also reduces its bending stiffness.
The transonic flow, together with the increasingly flexible wings, can cause even a small disturbance (such as a gust of wind or an increase in airspeed) to trigger a critical condition known as flutter. The aerodynamic forces deform the wing in such a way that the flow changes. The changed flow in turn affects the air forces, which can result in a self-excited oscillating system. Reinforcing the wing structure counteracts this effect but also leads to a higher weight. The same effect can occur with the rotor blades of modern turbofans with high bypass ratios, whose diameter and circumferential speeds are increasingly growing. The rotational symmetry of the blade arrangements is particularly interesting in this context, both for aerodynamics and for the structure.
For high-aspect-ratio wings and future generations of engines, it is therefore necessary to control the aeroelastic phenomena that occur in the critical region. The University of Stuttgart, the Technical University of Berlin, the Technical University of Braunschweig, the Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen University, the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, and the German Aerospace Center are jointly investigating various measures, both numerically and experimentally, to make aviation more environmentally friendly and to expand the flight envelope of future commercial aircraft.
The work is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as part of the Climate VII-1 aviation research program.
Project partners
University of Stuttgart (project lead): Institute of Aerodynamics and Gas Dynamics
Dr.-Ing. Thorsten Lutz,
+49 711 685 63406,
lutz@iag.uni-stuttgart.de
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andrea Beck
+49 711 685 60218,
beck@iag.uni-stuttgart.de
RWTH Aachen University: Chair of Fluid Mechanics and Institute of Aerodynamics
Univ.-Prof. Dr. sc. Dominik Krug
+4924180- 95410,
d.krug@aia.rwth-aachen.de
Dr.-Ing. Matthias Meinke
+49 241 80 95328,
m.meinke@aia.rwth-aachen.de
TUM Technical University of Munich: Chair of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Christian Breitsamter
+49 (89) 289 – 16137,
christian.breitsamter@tum.de
TUB Technical University of Berlin: Chair of Aero Engines
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dieter Peitsch
+49 30 314 22878,
dieter.peitsch@tu-berlin.de
University of the Bundeswehr Munich: Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Aerodynamics
PD Dr. rer. nat. habil. Sven Scharnowski
+49 89 6004-2273,
sven.scharnowski@unibw.de
German Aerospace Center (DLR): Institute of Aeroelasticity
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Lorenz Tichy
Jens Nitzsche
HS Munich University of Applied Sciences (associate partner): Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Aeronautical Engineering
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anne-Marie Schreyer
+49 89 1265-4492,
anne-marie.schreyer@hm.edu
Contact
Thorsten Lutz
Dr.-Ing.Head of working group Aircraft Aerodynamics / Head of working group Wind Energy