Coandă effect
Efecto Coandă
- Date
- 1934 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Henri Coandă
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
The tendency of a fluid jet to attach to a nearby curved surface rather than separate from it. Coandă observed and patented it in the 1930s while studying jet deflection.
Thomas Young described the phenomenon in 1800 with a flame and an air stream. The name 'Coandă effect' was given by Henri Reichenbach around 1936. Coandă claimed to have observed the effect on his 1910 aircraft, which never flew; historians regard his later claims about priority in the jet aircraft as exaggerated.
What it led to
- lift on airfoils and high-lift devices
- fluidic circuits with no moving parts
- ventilation and spray flows