Current Projects

Riblets have been shown to provide decreased viscous drag.  New riblet application technology being developed is promising to make deployment of riblets on transport aircraft possible. To best take advantage of this new capability, optimized riblet designs are needed.  This work seeks to develop means of testing riblet designs in low-cost testing facilities.  Specifically, means of inexpeisively fabricating riblet models for testing in these low-cost test facilities as well as measuring very small decreases in drag afforded by these riblets are the focus of this effort.  This work is being carried out in conjunction with ISSI.