International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

REDUCTION OF VORTEX USING SLOTTER WINGLET

#2
Karthikayan#1, Padmaseelan , Rahul Gouse#3
Guide: Mr N. Sivaselva Kumar

Department of Aeronautical Engineering

Park College of Technology, Coimbatore.

#1 #2 #3
karthikayanaero@gmail.com pathured@gmail.com rahulgsz81@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This work represents the aerodynamic characteristic for aircraft wing with slotted winglet. This is
done by comparing the results of both bare and slotter winglet. It is one way of reducing vortex
caused by lift-induced drag. Slotter winglet being a small structure plays an important role in reducing
the vortex. By reducing vortex, induced drag and fuel consumption is reduced. This increases
operational range, endurance and also achievable speed. An experimental study is accompanied to test
the potentiality of Slotter winglet for the reduction of vortex strength and for the improvement of lift
coefficient without increasing the span of aircraft wing. The model composed of PSU 90-125
winglets. The test conducted in subsonic wind tunnel at various flow velocity and angle of attack from
-5 to +15 deg. The test result shows use of slotted winglet reduces drag coefficient by 20-25% and
increases lift coefficient by 10-20% than other winglets. Finally the percentage of wingtip vortices is
calculated by comparing to the results of bare winglet.

Keywords:
Slotter Winglet; Aerodynamics characteristic; Vortex; induced drag; wingtip vortices; wind tunnel

SYMBOLS INTRODUCTION

α Angle of attack It is well known that when a body exposed in a

viscous flow experiences profile drag, whether
D Drag force it produces lift or not. The induced drag is a
different type of drag. It is caused by the
L Lift force pressure imbalance at the tip of a finite wing
between its upper and lower surfaces. That
ρ Air density imbalance is necessary in order to produce a
positive lift force.
Free stream velocity
However, near the tip the high pressure air from
Pressure coefficient the lower side tends to move upwards, where
the pressure is lower, causing the streamlines to
curl. This three dimensional motion leads to the
Drag coefficient
formation of a vortex, which alters the flow
field and induces a velocity component in the
Lift coefficient
downward direction at the wing. The induced
flow pattern causes the relative velocity to
Moment coefficient downward direction of the wing, thus the lift
vector is tilted backward and a force component

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

in the direction of the drag appears, called of merit is expressed in terms of Airfoil
induced drag. Reducing the size of this tip characteristics, not aircraft characteristics.
vortex and minimizing the induced drag is more The aircraft wetted area, can be reduced if
importance for the modern aircraft. For this a higher maximum lift coefficient is
purpose the winglet concept is developed. achieved, resulting in lower drag. The
wing profile drag can also be reduced if a
The main purpose of winglet is to improve the
aircrafts aerodynamic performance by lower section profile-drag coefficient is
reducing the Induced drag. The vortices achieved. This figure of merit applies to
produced at the wing –tips are unavoidable almost all classes of aircraft.
products by the presence of lift and these
vortices are responsible for the appearance of
Induced Drag. In cruise conditions the induced SLOTTER WINGLET
drag is responsible for approximately 30% on
entire drag and also 50% in high-lift
The new design approach "SLOTTER
conditions.
WINGLET" is developed from the observation
of essential characteristic of winglet. Those
Hence to reduce the induced drag, winglets
characteristic were proposed by the Richard T
have been used and they also act as an
Whitcomb who developed the concept of
additional lifting surface on an aircraft. By
winglet. A winglet should be effective for the
which fuel consumption goes down and range
induced drag. Its effectiveness can be shown in
is extended, this lead to achieve better lift.
reduction of vortex. Initially a winglet should
There are several types of wingtip devices, and
consider three things in mean of reducing drag.
although they function in different manners,
the intended effect is always to reduce the
The first and foremost thing is strength of the
aircraft's drag by partial recovery of the tip
vortex. This strength is based on the vortex
vortex energy. Wingtip devices can also
flow and this strength is also in contact with
improve aircraft handling characteristics and
shape of the flow. The only way that vortex
enhance safety. Such devices increase the
can be reduced by affecting in its strength.
effective aspect ratio of a wing without
When there is an affect in its strength this will
materially increasing the wingspan.
be resulted in the induced drag. This induced
The wing profile drag is the largest drag occupies a major role in the profile drag.
This profile drag is dominant in total drag in
contributor to the total aircraft drag at
an aircraft. This shows that when there is a
cruise conditions for most aircraft. The change in induced drag which is a drag due to
wing profile drag contributes about one lift will result in change of total drag. The
third of the total drag for transport aircraft. shape, flow and strength are the three things
The percentage of the total aircraft drag that to be considered while designing a winglet
due to the wing profile drag generally
increases, primarily because the relative All these three are in contact with each other,
wing area. To minimize wing profile drag, so if there is a change in any one then that will
the figure of merit FOM applicable to be resulted in other stuff. From this we can
aircraft having their wing area determined have a clear note that the winglet should be
by a minimum-speed requirement (usually designed based on these characteristic. It
means that they should effective in reduction
landing speed) should be maximized:
of those parameters. The strength of vortex is
s based on its continuity of the flow. If the
continuity is disturbed that will be hardly
FOM = ------------ reflected in strength of the vortex. From this
we come to know that the fore most thing to be
done to reduce the strength of the flow is to
Where is the maximum lift create discontinuity in the flow. And the shape
coefficient and is the cruise of the vortex is also as important as flow of the
section profile drag coefficient. The figure vortex. The flow of the vortex should be

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

elliptical to reduce the strength of the flow. If

this is done the vortex will be reduced
effectively.

Slotter Winglet is a method for altering the

trailing tip vortex from an aircraft wing and
thus improves the aircraft performance. This
winglet is a device used to improve the
efficiency of aircraft by lowering the lift-
induced drag caused by wingtip vortices. This
winglet provides an innovative method of
achieving the vortex arrangement described
above.

This slotter winglet is designed from the basic

model of winglet, the base model is nothing Figure 2: side and top view of wing
but which is commercially being used in with slotter winglet.
aircraft. The Blended winglet is widely used in
aircraft because they are effective in reduction
of drag which is used nowadays and they are
economically friendly. Hence by doing an
optimization in the structure to achieve the An aircraft model’s wing with a set of
better efficiency a new type of winglet is slotter winglet have been designed
designed by introducing a slot in the winglet and fabricated using plastic for testing
called to be SLOTTER WINGLET. aerodynamic characteristic in subsonic
The hand draft of designed slotter winglet is wind tunnel in Aerodynamic
shown below and the dimension’s mentioned Laboratory. The NACA 0012 airfoil
here all in feet. (Fig: 1) has been used in root of the wing and
NACA 64008A airfoil has been used
in tip of the wing. PSU 90-125 WL
airfoil has been used in both root and
tip of the winglet. The winglet design
is shown in Figure 1. The aircraft
model has a span of 93.50ft.in.

The tests were carried out with free-

stream velocities of 28.36 m/s, and
40m/s respectively with bare winglet
and slotter winglet of different
configurations. The ambient pressure,
temperature and humidity were
recorded using barometer,
thermometer, and hygrometer
respectively for the evaluation of air
density in the laboratory environment.
The pitching moment, lift and drag
forces were measured by varying
angle of attack ranging from 0 degree
Figure 1: side view of slotter winglet
to 14 degree using the six-component
external balance. The coefficients of
lift, drag and moment are obtained
using the coefficient of lift equation:

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

At 4 degree angle of attack, the pressure

distribution has a nearly neutral gradient over
much of the lower surface. This distribution is
sufficient to maintain transition aft of the
50-percent chord location over most of the
Coefficient of drag equation operational Reynolds number range. As the
Reynolds number increases, the transition
location gradually moves forward due to the
boundary layer becoming less stable.
For angles of attack less than 4.0°, transition is
predicted to move quickly forward on the
lower surface. This rapid movement is
Coefficient of moment equation responsible for the sharp corner at the lower
limit of the low-drag range. The upper limit
of the low-drag range depends on the upper-
surface pressure distribution at the lift
coefficient that corresponds to a = 4.0°.
At the low operational Reynolds numbers of
this airfoil, the proper management of laminar
separation bubbles is essential to a successful
design. This is accomplished on both surfaces
DESIGN OF WING AND through the use of transition ramps that cause
WINGLET transition to occur through shallow pressure
rises such that the separation bubble is
prevented. While transition ramps are typically
An airfoil was designed to satisfy the set of much less extensive, the long ramps employed
requirements using the Eppler Airfoil Design. here are necessitated by the low Reynolds
The result of this design effort is the NACA numbers at which this airfoil operates.
0012 airfoil which is used at the root chord of
the wing because of its Pressure distribution is
along span wise at and Reduces the WING AIRFOIL
total combined with angle of inclination
( ) for the winglet. And NACA 64008A Root chord- NACA 0012
airfoil is used at the tip of the wing due to its Tip chord – NACA 64008A
Increases in the critical Mach number.
Allows low drag at high flight speed easier WINGLET AIRFOIL
takeoff is achieved. Considering winglet PSU Root and tip chord- PSU 90-125
90-125 airfoil is used due to Operates at low Specifications of the Wing
Reynolds number and Conservative design for
SL parameters Values
long range flight. Reduce span wise NO
0
aerodynamic loading. Induced drag is reduced 1 Sweep Angle 27
in wetted area. Avoid stall during climb due to 2 Span 93.5
Narrow chord. The first two digits of winglet 3 Taper Ratio 0.26
4 Aspect Ratio 7.35
in the design indicate the year the airfoil was
5 Area 1135ft
designed, 1990, and the last three are the 6 Maximum root 18.5ft
thickness ratio in per cent of chord, 12.5 per chord
cent. The desired lower lift coefficient limit of 7 Minimum root 1.5ft
the low-drag range was specified to be 0.5 chord
8 Maximum tip 5.13ft
which is higher than the actual design value
Chord
that is 0.2. Tabulation 1: wing parameter

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

Specifications of the Winglet

SL parameter Values
NO
1 Span 8.6ft
2 Area
3 Sweep Angle 260
4 Taper Ratio .26
5 Maximum 1.5ft
Chord
6 Minimum 1ft
Chord
Tabulation 2: winglet parameter

Results & Discussions

Without slot

Fig 12: Contours of absolute pressure (upper surface)

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Fig 13: Contours of turbulence intensity (upper surface)

Fig 14: Contours of turbulence intensity (lower surface)

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Fig 15: Contours of absolute pressure (wing airfoil)

fig 16: Contours of velocity magnitude (wing airfoil)

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Fig 16: Vector plot (wing airfoil)

Fig 17: Contours of absolute pressure (winglet airfoil)

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Fig 18: Contours of velocity magnitude (winglet airfoil)

Fig 18: Vector plot (winglet airfoil)

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

Fig 19: Contours of absolute pressure (winglet

sFig 20: Path lines

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

WITH SLOT

Fig 3: Contours of absolute pressure (winglet airfoil)

Fig 4: Contours of velocity magnitude (winglet airfoil)

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Fig 5: Vector plot (winglet airfoil)

Fig 6: Contours of absolute pressure (winglet)

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

Fig 7: Contours of absolute pressure (winglet)

Fig 8: Contours of turbulent intensity

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

Fig 9: Contours of turbulent intensity

Fig 10: Path lines

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Fig 11: Path lines

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0.12

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0 2 4 6 8 10

Fig 21: Angle of attack vs CD for bare winglet

1.37

1.36

1.35

1.34

1.33

1.32

1.31

1.3

1.29
0 2 4 6 8 10

Fig 22: Angle of attack vs CL for bare winglet

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0.052

0.051

0.05

0.049

0.048

0.047

0.046

0.045

0.044
0 2 4 6 8 10

Fig 23: Angle of attack vs CD for slotter winglet

1.44
1.43
1.42
1.41
1.4
1.39
1.38
1.37
1.36
1.35
1.34
1.33
0 2 4 6 8 10

Fig 24: Angle of attack vs CL for slotter winglet

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 International Conference on Explorations and Innovations in Engineering & Technology (ICEIET - 2016)

CONCLUSION
From the drag coefficient and lift coefficient graph it clearly shows that this slotted winglet will
increase lift force and reduce drag force. This winglet design is capable to reduce induced drag force
and also delays in wing stall.Slotted tips reduce drag because of the upwash at the wing tip. Winglet
increases the performance at low operational Reynolds number.

REFERENCE

[1] R. T. Whitcomb, Methods for Reducing Aerodynamic Drag, NASA Conference Publication 2211,
Proceedings of Dryden Symposium, Edwards, California, 1981.

[2] R.T.Whitcomb, A Design Approach and Selected Wind-Tunnel Results at High Subsonic Speeds
for Wing-Tip Mounted Winglets, 1976

[3] Chandrasekharan, M. Reuben, Murphy, R. William, Taverna, P. Frank, and B. W. Charles,

Computational Aerodynamic Design of the Gulfstream IV Wing, AIAA-85-0427, 1985..

[4] J. J. Spillman, The use of wing tip sails to reduce vortex drag, Aeronautical Journal, September,
pp.387-395,1978.

[5] Maughmer, M. D., The Design of Winglets for High-Performance Sailplanes", AIAA Paper 2001-
2406-CP, 2001.

[6] Nazarinia, M., Soltani, M. R., Ghorbanian, K., Experimental Study of Vortex Shapes behind a
Wing Equipped with Different Winglets", Journal of Aerospace Science and Technology, Vol. 3,

[7] Spalart, P. R., Allmaras, S. R., A One-Equation Turbulence Model for Aerodynamic Flows",
AIAA Paper 92-0439-CP, 1992. Spillman, J., The use of Wing Tip Sails to Reduce Vortex Drag",
Aeronaut. J., 82, 1978, pp. 387-395.

[8] J. E.Yates, and C. Donaldson, Fundamental Study of drag and an Assessment of Conventional
Drag-Due-To-Lift Reduction Devices, NASA Contract Rep 4004, 1986.

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