in a nut shell

 
 

Summary of the project


AFLoNext is a four-year EC Level 2 project with the objective of proving and maturing highly promising flow control technologies for novel aircraft configurations to achieve a quantum leap in improving aircraft’s performance and thus reducing the environmental footprint. The project consortium is composed of forty European partners from fifteen countries. The work has been broken down into seven work packages. The AFLoNext concept is based on six Technology Streams which cluster the targeted technologies and their associated contributions to advanced aircraft performance as follows:


  • (1) Hybrid Laminar Flow Control (HLFCtechnology applied on fin and wing for friction drag reduction and thus performance increase in cruise conditions.
  • (2) Flow control technologies to enable more aggressive outer wing design for novel aircraft configurations, thereby improving the performance and the loads situation in low and high speed conditions.
  • (3) Technologies for local flow separation control applied in wing/pylon junction to improve the performance and loads situation mainly in take-off and landing conditions.
  • (4) Technologies to control the flow conditions on wing trailing edges thereby improving the performance and loads situation in the whole operational domain.
  • (5) Technologies to mitigate airframe noise during landing generated on flap and undercarriage and through mutual interaction of both.
  • (6) Technologies to mitigate/control vibrations in the undercarriage area which are caused by highly unsteady or inhomogeneous inflow conditions in take-off and landing conditions.


AFLoNext aims to prove the engineering feasibility of the HLFC technology for drag reduction on fin in flight test and on wing by means of large scale testing. The project shows also engineering feasibility for vibrations mitigation technologies for reduced aircraft weight and noise mitigation technologies.

The peculiarity of the AFLoNext proposal in terms of holistic technical approach and efficient use of resources becomes obvious through the joint use of a flight test aircraft as common test platform for the above mentioned technologies.

To improve aircraft performance along the whole flight regime, locally applied active flow control technologies on wing and wing/pylon junction are qualified in wind tunnels or by means of lab-type demonstrators.



Project ID




AFLONEXT

Title of the Project

“2nd Generation Active Wing”- Active Flow_Loads & Noise control on next generation wing

Grant Agreement Number

604013

Project type

FP7 Collaborative Project – Large Scale (L2)

Starting date / End date

1st June 2013

31th May 2017

Duration

48 months

Total Budget / Total Manpower

37 066 858.00 €

2 449 Person-months

Maximum Community Financial Contribution

23 612 079.00 €

Project Officer

Dr. Dietrich Knoerzer

Project Coordinator

Martin Wahlich (AIRBUS-D)