On Nov 6, 9:40*am, wrote:
On Wed, 5 Nov 2008 13:59:27 -0800 (PST), in sci.engr.mech "Ken S. Tucker"



wrote:
On Nov 5, 1:08 pm, wrote:
On Wed, 5 Nov 2008 12:52:12 -0800 (PST), in sci.engr.mech "Ken S. Tucker"

wrote:


The fundamental studies were done at NASA Langley Research Center *in the
late 70s/early 80s. The first open use of riblets was on *the boat Dennis
Connor (sp?) used to win back the America's Cup, being applied via a
special 3M tape. The wind tunnel test articles from that study reside in
the basement of the building next door to the one the branch I work
resides. I my be wrong but It's possible the same the facility used in the
study was also used for the work leading to the Speedo LZR Racer suit.

German researchers concurrently came up with the same conclusions from
studying
shark skin, they've continued with considerable efforts in 'printing'
them into
UV cured paints and other techniques. In any case the riblet effect
has been
known for over 50 years. http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/riblets.htm