Digital mapping of surface turbulence status and aerodynamic stall on wings of a flying aircraft

Zijie Xu; Leo N Y Cao; Chengyu Li; Yingjin Luo; Erming Su; Weizhe Wang; Wei Tang; Zhaohui Yao; Zhong Lin Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38486-6

Digital mapping of surface turbulence status and aerodynamic stall on wings of a flying aircraft

Nat Commun. 2023 May 16;14(1):2792. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38486-6.

Authors

Zijie Xu^#^{1

2}, Leo N Y Cao^#^{1

2}, Chengyu Li^#^{1

2}, Yingjin Luo^#^{1

2}, Erming Su^{1

2}, Weizhe Wang³, Wei Tang^{1

2}, Zhaohui Yao⁴, Zhong Lin Wang^{5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 101400, Beijing, China.
² School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
³ School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 101408, Beijing, China.
⁴ School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 101408, Beijing, China. yaozh@ucas.edu.cn.
⁵ CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 101400, Beijing, China. zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.
⁶ School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China. zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.
⁷ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0245, USA. zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Real-time monitoring of flow turbulence is very difficult but extremely important in fluid dynamics, which plays an important role in flight safety and control. Turbulence can cause airflow to detach at the end of the wings, potentially resulting in the aerodynamic stall of aircraft and causing flight accidents. Here, we developed a lightweight and conformable system on the wing surface of aircraft for stall sensing. Quantitative data about airflow turbulence and the degree of boundary layer separation are provided in situ using conjunct signals provided by both triboelectric and piezoelectric effects. Thus, the system can visualize and directly measure the airflow detaching process on the airfoil, and senses the degree of airflow separation during and after a stall for large aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles.