A CFD Analysis of Wingtip Devices to Improve Lift and Drag Characteristics of Aircraft Wing

Abstract

The present study investigates the use of various wingtip devices to analyse the parameters of lift and drag for an aircraft wing. The coefficients of lift and drag are investigated in this research to optimize the wing design for enhancing the aircraft performance. A reduction in the drag produced due to wingtip vortices leads to reduced fuel consumption which contributes to the reduction in fuel emissions. The two-dimensional analysis is carried out for the selection of an apposite aerofoil by comparing the lift/drag characteristics of NACA 0012, 2415 and 23015 respectively at the velocity of 79.16 m/s at the angles of attack of 0°,4°,8°,12°,16° and 20°. The aerofoil section NACA 2415 is used to design the three-dimensional aircraft wing. For the analysis of the various wing tip devices the three-dimensional wing is incorporated with the spiroid winglet, blended winglet, wingtip fence and a mini-winglet. The CFD analysis for the wing designs is carried out for the take-off and landing phases of an aircraft’s flight because the effect of vortices is the highest during these flight phases. The angles of attack range from 0° to 20°. The CFD results reveal that for the wing designs, the plain wing produced the highest drag and the blended winglet proved to be the wingtip device with the most beneficial design. The results obtained for the 30° cant angled blended winglet and 60° cant angled wingtip fence produces additional lift when compared to the results obtained for the counterpart designs. The results obtained from the analysis are in close correlation to the established use of the wingtip devices.

A Brief Review on Aerodynamic Performance of Wingtip Slots and Research Prospect

“…Unlike conventional wings, there is no obvious stall point in the lift versus angle of attack diagram of bird wings. In addition, the induced drag of bird wings is greatly lower than the theoretical-induced drag predicted by the aspect ratio [83,84].…”

Developments in Wingtip Vorticity Mitigation Techniques: A Comprehensive Review

“…All the devices mentioned in the previous section fall under this category. Other examples of the passive category reported in the literature include porous wingtips [57,58], ducted wingtips [59], delta wingtips, spiroid winglets [60], slotted wingtips [61], etc.…”

“…Blended winglets are commonly used on modern passenger aircraft, such as several 737s, along with 757s and 767s. Khan et al [60] compared the performance between different types of wingtips, such as blended winglets, spiroid winglets, winglets, and fenced wingtips, for take-off and…”

“…Blended winglets are commonly used on modern passenger aircraft, such as several 737s, along with 757s and 767s. Khan et al [60] compared the performance between different types of wingtips, such as blended winglets, spiroid winglets, winglets, and fenced wingtips, for take-off and landing conditions at α = 0 • -20 • . The blended winglet proved to be the most beneficial design, with a 22% reduction in drag compared with the plain wing.…”