In 1911 the first fundamental patent of Henry Coanda has been submitted. And 2011 is the centenary of this event for aeronautic history. This paper presents a general review of applied research about Coanda effect nozzles, starting from earlier Coanda works to today's applications. Coanda effect based nozzles are considered, looking at the nozzles which can produce an effective angular deflection of a jet and in particular of a synthetic jet produced by two or more jets.

Plasma actuators have shown their ability for different applications within the active flow control and heat transfer fields. These simple devices are inexpensive, present robustness, low weight and are fully electronic. However, they still present some debilities in terms of durability and maximum induced flow velocity. To overcome these issues, during the last years, a few different configurations of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators have been proposed but, always making use of dielectric barrier discharge layers of constant thickness. For the first time, the present study herein introduces a new plasma actuator configuration that makes use of a stair-shaped dielectric layer, which aims to increase the induced flow velocity and improve the mechanical efficiency without compromising the durability of the device. In this new concept, instead of using a dielectric layer with constant thickness, the thickness of the dielectric layer decreases along the covered electrode width, which leads to an increase of the plasma discharge extension and an increase of the maximum induced flow velocity. Several actuators based on a stair-shaped dielectric layer were experimentally tested and compared with the conventional actuators. The results demonstrated that the stair-shaped actuators allow us to obtain a plasma discharge longer. It was found that by implementing a stair-shaped dielectric layer with a slope angle, in a 1.92 mm thickness actuator, it is possible to increase the maximum induced flow velocity in about 32% by consuming 36% less power. These results lead to a mechanical efficiency five times bigger than the obtained with conventional constant thickness actuators.

The MAAT project (Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport) aims to investigate aerial transportation possibility by airship based cruiser-feeder system. MAAT is composed by two modules: The cruiser, named PTAH, (acronym of Photovoltaic Transport Aerial High altitude system); the feeder, named ATEN (Aerial Transport Elevator Network feeder), is a VTOL system (Vertical Take Off and Landing) which ensure the connection between the cruiser and the ground. They can lift up and down by the control of buoyancy force and displace horizontally to join to cruiser.The project aims to: 1identify and design the most functional cruiser/feeder airship architecture based on a discoid innovative airship able to remain airborne for long periods and to travel great distances;2design the best type of propulsion both for cruiser and feeder so they can contribute together to the propulsion of an innovative modular airship;3minimize the environmental air transport impacts by annulling the fossil fuels energy consumption by designing both cruiser and feeder are energetically autonomous by photovoltaic energy and innovative electric propulsion.4study the different possible ways of approaching and joining between ATEN and PTAH, and consequently, the release of ATEN from PTAH.5design the best procedure of docking operations thus identified in order to obtain the minimum disruption to passengers and the maximum safety for themselves and for goods6study the different architectures of PTAH and Athens, in such a way that :athe lift up capacity guaranteed by the buoyancy force, may be accompanied by the power of the engines;beffective and safe procedures for docking;cATEN can land and take off from Airport Hubs named AHA located in major populated centresdPTAH satisfies the better possible aerodynamic performances possible for the dimensions and the operative mission.To study the transfer operations between ATEN and PTAH of goods and people and vice versa, to: minimize distress conditions for passengers,maximize performances especially for goods;enhance safety of these operations to maximum possible level.The objectives described are congruent with each other and to achieve this study of the system and components must be highly structured…