NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF WINGLET ANGLES INFLUENCE ON VORTEX SHEDDING

Abstract

Wingtip devices are usually intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft. There are several types of wing tip devices, and although they function in different manners, the intended effect is always to reduce the aircraft's drag by partial recovery of the tip vortex energy. Wingtip devices can also improve aircraft handling characteristics and enhance safety for following aircraft. Such devices increase the effective aspect ratio of a wing without materially increasing the wingspan. The purpose of this project is to analyse different types of winglets using Auto CAD, GAMBIT and FLUENT and then, to find out what happens when winglets are linked to wingtips and to study about the aerodynamic properties of spiroid winglets which are still under research. One wing model without winglet and three wing models with winglets were created and drawn in Auto CAD and they were meshed in GAMBIT using geometry data gathered from research papers. Those models were read into Fluent where flow boundary conditions were applied. The wing without winglet, the wings with spiroid winglets and the wings with other kinds of winglets performance were analyzed in several angles of attack and the drag coefficient was compared when the aircraft is taking off. Wingtip vortices from models were checked, studied and compared. The best winglet model reduces drag coefficient and wingtip vortices from wing without winglet model and it will be pointed out at the end of this project. --------------------------------------------------------------------***----------------------------------------------------------------------