Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, is experimenting with using a synthetic material that mimics shark skin to make its planes more aerodynamic as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
The synthetic shark skin, called AeroSHARK, is already used on more than a dozen aircraft owned by Lufthansa and its subsidiaries, which in total have flown more than 100,000 hours.
The skin characteristics of the shark
Shark’s skin is known to be used as sandpaper, due to its tiny V-shaped blades, called leathery dentures.
This same property, however, is also what makes shark skin so effective at swimming. In addition to their shape, dentures also benefit from their uniform orientation towards the shark’s back, which reduces water resistance when it swims forward.
The resistance-reducing properties of shark skin have led to experimentation with synthetic materials for decades, such as in swimsuits – with questionable effectiveness – as well as on ships and now aircraft.
But there is still much to understand in our efforts to borrow from these creatures, as a number of factors, such as the shape, size and distribution of dentures, can affect how resistance decreases. Any combination of these variables can lead to completely different results, especially when the effects are transferred from the sea to the air.
Reduction of CO2 emissions
Lufthsansa’s technology already seems to provide tangible benefits. Four Boeing passenger planes will be covered with just over 836 square meters of AeroSHARK hardware, which is expected to reduce drag by about 1%. This may not sound like much, but even that small percentage will make a significant difference on a plethora of flights.
The airline claims that over four years, the aircraft will each save about 8,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions – the equivalent of 46 flights from Vienna to New York.
In addition to the four new Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, which will be ready by March and operated by Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa has equipped 17 more aircraft with AeroSHARK technology: 12 Swiss-operated Boeing 777-200ERs, 1 Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 and 4 Lufthansa Cargo 777F.
On its own, putting shark skin on aircraft will not make the aviation industry carbon neutral – something major airlines have pledged to achieve by 2050 – but every little step is useful.
