RAeS Hamburg Lecture in Cooperation with HAW Hamburg, DGLR, VDI & ZAL

Recent years have seen an explosion in aeronautical creativity, driven in part by the advent of cheap, powerful electric drive systems and efficient batteries. According to their many proponents, electric-powered aircraft that are capable of vertical takeoff and landing (aka. eVTOL aircraft) promise a future of quiet, efficient urban transport in which travel by air will be seen to be as commonplace and simple as hailing a taxi.

The aerodynamics of these vehicles is very complex, however. The wakes generated by their multiple rotors in the process of generating lift or thrust interact with each other to cause vibration and control problems, transitioning from vertical to horizontal flight is not a simple process, and, particularly when landing or taking off, a range of aerodynamic, structural dynamic and acoustic issues threaten to materialise. To what extent can, and has, the aerodynamic development of these vehicles benefited from past experience with helicopters and other historical VTOL aircraft, and to what extent have and will they require new knowledge to be derived and new design principles to be developed? To what extent do these vehicles pose new challenges that will need to be addressed in novel and creative ways? Perhaps more importantly, what can the study of this new class of vehicles add to the body of aeronautical knowledge as a whole?

Dr Richard Brown is an internationally respected authority on rotorcraft aerodynamics, with over thirty five years of experience in the field. After a long academic career, he now co-directs Sophrodyne Aerospace, an aerodynamics consultancy based in Glasgow. He was recently awarded the Royal Aeronautical Society's Bronze Medal for his contributions over the last decades to our understanding of rotorcraft aerodynamics, and also the Vertical Flight Society's award for extraordinary contributions to vertical flight, specifically for some of his work on eVTOL aerodynamics.

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This event will take place on Tuesday, 2 December 2025 at the Anglo-German Club, Harvestehuder Weg 44, 20149 Hamburg. 

Reception at 18:15

Dinner at 19:00

RAeS Hamburg lecture in cooperation with HAW Hamburg, DGLR,VDI &ZAL

Active control of air flow over aircraft wings can significantly improve aerodynamic performance. Pulsed jet actuation is a particularly promising technology - compared to steady jet injection, it can suppress flow separation much more effectively with reduced mass flow.

Outcomes from the Clean Sky 2 WINGPULSE project will be presented, which was aimed at demonstrating pulsed jet actuator concepts for flow separation control. Results from wind tunnel testing and high-fidelity simulations will be described.

Mark Jabbal was Principal Investigator on the WINGPULSE project. His main research interests lie in fluid flow control for drag reduction (experimental aerodynamics; optimization and vehicle system integration studies).

He is currently Associate Professor and Programme Director of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Nottingham and also a co-opted member of the Royal Aeronautical Society Aerodynamics Specialist Group.