Fluid dynamics study on flight performance improvement of morphing winglets on jetliners

Abstract

Winglets are structures with unique shapes designed on the wingtips of aircraft. They were first time justified as a device that can improve aircraft fuel efficiency by generating more lift in the last century and have been widely used in the aviation industry until today. The current winglets installed on jetliners, however, are fixed, resulting in that winglets can only be aerodynamically optimized for single flight condition. Searching for further improvement on flight performance, this paper investigates and analyzes two types of morphing winglets that can adjust their configurations during flight for aerodynamic optimizations under multiple conditions. Three computational studies based on three current business jets, representing aerodynamic characteristics of typical jetliners, are referenced. The studies results are presented and categorized into different flight phases, and the flight performance is embodied in terms of aircraft maximum climb rate, lift-to-drag ratio, and cruise fuel flow rate. Finally, the overall performance gained and the feasibility of implementation are evaluated.