What Scorpions Have To Teach Aircraft Designers

First time accepted submitter elloGov writes "The north African desert scorpion, Androctonus australis, is a hardy creature. Most animals that live in deserts dig burrows to protect themselves from the sand-laden wind. Not Androctonus; it usually toughs things out at the surface. Yet when the sand whips by at speeds that would strip paint away from steel, the scorpion is able to scurry off without apparent damage thanks to the unique structure of its carapace. Dr Han Zhiwu of Jilin University and colleagues have found that surface irregularities based on the scorpion's exoskeleton could substantially minimize atmospheric dust damage to aircraft."

Comments

Re:What about drag

[Dinghy]

A lot of work has been done lately on getting very smooth aerodynamic surfaces, because when you promote laminar flow, you can get very significant decreases in drag. Wouldn't this additional surface roughness mess that up?

This is pretty much dead on. The reduced erosion is due to air flow disruption, which is definitely going to cause additional drag.