Smart Material Creates Dimples to Reduce Drag

Smart Material Creates Dimples to Reduce Drag
Jun-28-14
Researchers have created a smart surface that can morph to cut air resistance, which could be used to help improve the fuel efficiency of vehicles or build sturdier domes.

Dimples (such as those on golf balls) have long-been known to help reduce drag, but studies have shown that the dimples are only truly effective at low speeds. As objects move at faster speeds, a smoother surface is more useful for reducing wake.

Now, a team at MIT has developed "smorphs," surfaces able to morph in real-time in order to most effectively reduce drag. The surfaces cover a sphere made up of a soft interior surrounded by a stiff skin, which will shrink and wrinkle when air is removed from the sphere's interior. The wrinkling will cause a regular spacing of dimples to form in the surface, reducing drag at low speeds, and the dimples can even be fine-tuned to best suit the conditions. The team believes the 'smorphs' could be used to help build stronger, yet still lightweight, radomes or to help reduce drag on vehicles.



More Info about this Invention:

[GIZMAG.COM]
[MIT.EDU]
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