A new study has been released that shows how a physics law can help explain how airplanes evolved.
The study also outlines how companies can improve designs for commercial airplanes.
Airplanes from propeller-driven DC-3s to Boeing 787s have evolved to increase efficiency, according to researchers at the Duke University. The Concorde was too far from the curve of good designs and so ended up as a failure.
A law of physics proposed by Adrian Bejan, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the Duke University, over 20 years ago shows that good airplane designs have followed a specific pattern.
Biological evolution takes place over a long timeline. Airplanes specifically have taken few decades to evolve, allowing researchers to analyze them in greater detail.
"The evolution of our use of technology and airplanes to transport people and goods has taken place in little more than a single lifetime, making it visible to those who look. Evolution is a universal phenomenon encompassing technology, river basins and animal design alike, and it is rooted in physics as the constructal law," Bejan said, according to a Duke news release.
The constructal law states that "for a system to survive, it must evolve to increase its access to flow."
Bejan said that everything from river systems to tree branches follows this law, according to a news release.
"The same design features can be seen in any large land animal," said Bejan. "Larger animals have longer lifespans and travel farther distances, just as passenger airplanes have been designed to do. For example, the ratio of the engine to aircraft size is analogous to the ratio of a large animal's total body size to its heart, lungs and muscles."
Bejan worked with Jordan Charles, a researcher and development engineer, and Sylvie Lorente, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toulouse to gather information about airplane designs.
The researchers plotted thousands of statistics like the year of introduction, fuel weight, wingspan, size, and engine mass.
The team discovered that design of the airplanes have followed a specific pattern, and designs that have moved away from this pattern are the ones that have failed, according to the release.
The study helped proved that the evolution isn't limited to just biology. The study could also help companies design faster, more fuel-efficient airplanes.
The study is published in the Journal of Applied Physics.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
