Transport Aircraft Wake Influenced by a Large Winglet and Winglet Flaps

Abstract

Detailed flowfields of a wind-tunnel investigation are discussed presenting the wake vortex development and evolution in the near field and extended near field behind a four-engined large transport aircraft model fitted with a large winglet. The tests use a half-model of 1:32 scale focusing on the high-lift case of a typical approach configuration at a Reynolds number of 0.5 x 10 6 based on the wing mean aerodynamic chord and at an angle of attack of 7 deg. Flowfields are carefully inspected by advanced hot-wire anemometry at seven crossflow planes up to 5.6 spans downstream of the model. Based on the measured time-dependent velocity components, the wake flowfield is analyzed by distributions of mean velocity and vorticity, turbulence intensities, and spectral densities. The near-field wing vortex sheet is dominated by seven main vortical structures, namely the winglet vortex, the wing tip vortex, the outboard flap vortex, the outboard and inboard nacelle vortices, and the vortices shed at the wing-body junction and the horizontal tail plane. In the extended near field, these vortices roll up and merge to form the remaining rolled-up vortex. The deflection of winglet flaps produce additional vortices influencing the wing tip near field and enhancing the overall merging process. Especially for the cases with asymmetrical flap deflection, the remaining rolled-up vortex shows a significant narrowband concentration of turbulent kinetic energy which may result in an amplification of inherent far-field instabilities.