A master thesis from Aalborg University
Numerical Investigation of Blended Winglet Effects on Wing Performances: Winglet Aerodynamics
Author(s)
Term
10. term
Education
Publication year
2008
Submitted on
2008-06-02
Pages
98 pages
Abstract
Since decades fuel never stops rising. Civil aviation market is very sensitive for profitability. Several ways are possible to reduce aircraft fuel consumption. One of them is the wingtip device. Winglet has been proven. But there is still one big challenge: to simulate the aerodynamics around it. Different types of winglet are modelled in the present work: the simple winglet, the blended winglet and the shifted downstream winglet. The blended winglet is the most fftted to the wingtip to prevent auxiliary vortex to be born at the junction. Although there exist different analytical models to solve the flow around a 3D-wing, none of them can include wingtip device effects. This investigation is then lead numerically. Two models are built according to a thickness difference. Winglet brings effectively higher performances regarding lift and drag. Pressure gradients around the wing are well preserved until the wingtip, keeping the wing operational on its whole span. They prevent vortex and then allow the fluid flow to stay quite homogenous and unchanged at the wintip. But if the angle of the winglet is too sharp, an auxiliary vortex could be created. Thanks to wingtip devices the vortex lets feel weaker along the span because it is generally displaced to the winglet tip. Models built are two extreme cases about winglet geometry but could give a first general idea on how winglets influence the general aerodynamics around the wing.
Keywords
Colophon: This page is part of the AAU Student Projects portal, which is run by Aalborg University. Here, you can find and download publicly available bachelor's theses and master's projects from across the university dating from 2008 onwards. Student projects from before 2008 are available in printed form at Aalborg University Library.
If you have any questions about AAU Student Projects or the research registration, dissemination and analysis at Aalborg University, please feel free to contact the VBN team. You can also find more information in the AAU Student Projects FAQs.