Shark scales being used to design better aircraft; it should not be...

A close up of shark denticles. Image courtesy of Harvard.

An article out of Harvard explores research into the use of shark scales to better improve aircraft lift. But sharks are water creatures you say and aircraft are, well, in the air. True enough, but the only difference between water and air is density and buoyancy and water has more of both, as well, they both respond to the rules of fluid dynamics.

This would not be a surprise to Viktor Schauberger, known as the Water Wizard, whose motto in life was, "comprehend and copy nature". Self-educated as he felt school would take away his sensitivity to nature, he had a disdain for educational systems and felt that nature was the best teacher available. Highly critical of man's technology which he described as being "explosive", he promoted and designed what he termed "implosive systems". He also designed craft based on fish that rather than being pushed through the air were pulled by a vortex. Here is an interesting video on Viktor Schauberger.

Back to the shark skin.

For inspiration, they turned to the shortfin mako, the fastest of the sharks and using micro-ct scans they imaged and modelled the scales which are actually called 'denticles' and using a 3-d printer, they printed the shapes onto the surface of a wing. They then tested 20 different designs and sizes as well as configurations in a wind tunnel and found that not only do they reduce drag, but that they also can create lift with improvements up to 323%.

Environmental scanning electron microscope image of denticles from the shortfin mako shark (a) and (its corresponding parametric 3D model (b). These denticles were arranged in a wide range of different configurations on an aerofoil, two examples of which are shown here (c,d ). (Image courtesy of Harvard University)