Vortex Research to Solve Aviation's Efficiency Tradeoff with Active Strakes

A research team developed a smart strake system that dynamically adapts to flight conditions, showing a promising drag reduction in the wind tunnel with respect to passive strakes. This approach has the potential to save airlines hundreds of kilograms of fuel per flight.

University of Washington Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics (A&A), Seattle, WA

For decades, aircraft have carried a fundamental compromise between their engines and wing flow interactions by using strakes. These are small fins attached at the sides of engine nacelles that generate helpful vortices during takeoff and landing that boost lift and avoid stall, but create unwanted drag during cruise flight. Now, seven William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics (A&A) undergraduates have advanced a solution that improves this trade-off, achieving up to 33 percent drag reduction, on the limited tested conditions, during cruise while maintaining critical safety benefits at high angles of attack.

The team - Hugh Carbrey, Cade Homfeldt, Alexander Maldonado, Matthew Saludares, Paul Snyder, Fiona Spitzley, and Aaron Wu - worked under the mentorship of Giovanni Nino, an Affiliate Associate Professor with over 50 patents, Professor Robert Breidenthal of A&A's Vortex Transport Lab, and Professor Alvar Saenz Otero, lead of our capstone design program. They validated the concept of an “active strake” that uses controlled air injection to dynamically adjust vortex flow based on the angle of attack to reduce drag during cruise flight.