See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/317696255

Performance study of winglets on tapered wing with curved trailing edge

Conference Paper in AIP Conference Proceedings · June 2017

DOI: 10.1063/1.4984634

CITATION READS
1 385

4 authors, including:

Ismat Ara Mohammad Ali

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology NHMP training institute, Pakistan
3 PUBLICATIONS 8 CITATIONS 49 PUBLICATIONS 199 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Muhammad Nazmul Haque

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
2 PUBLICATIONS 8 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Road Injuries Research View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Muhammad Nazmul Haque on 20 October 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Performance study of winglets on tapered wing with curved trailing edge
Ismat Ara, Mohammad Ali, Md. Quamrul Islam, and M. Nazmul Haque

Citation: AIP Conference Proceedings 1851, 020005 (2017); doi: 10.1063/1.4984634

View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4984634
View Table of Contents: http://aip.scitation.org/toc/apc/1851/1
Published by the American Institute of Physics
 Performance Study of Winglets on Tapered Wing with
Curved Trailing Edge
Ismat Ara1D, Mohammad Ali1, Md. Quamrul Islam1, M. Nazmul Haque1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1000

a)
Corresponding author: araismat85@gmail.com

Abstract. Induced drag is the result of wingtip vortex produced from generating lift by finite wing. It is one of the main
drags that an aircraft wing encounters during flight. It hampers aircraft performance by increasing fuel consumption and
reducing endurance, range and speed. Winglets are used to reduce the induced drag. They weakens wingtip vortex and
thus reduces induced drag. This paper represents the experimental investigation to reduce induced drag using winglet at
the wingtip. A model of tapered wing with curved trailing edge (without winglet) as well as two similar wings with
blended winglet and double blended winglet are prepared using NACA 4412 aerofoil in equal span and surface area. All
the models are tested in a closed circuit subsonic wind tunnel at air speed of 108 km/h (0.09 Mach). Reynolds number of
the flow is 2.28 x 105 on the basis of average chord length of the wings. The point surface static pressures at different
angles of attack from -40 to 240 are measured for each of the wing and winglet combinations through different pressure
tapings by using a multi-tube water manometer. From the static pressure distribution, lift coefficient, drag coefficient and
lift to drag ratio of all models are calculated. From the analysis of calculated values, it is found that both winglets are able
to minimize induced drag; however, the tapered curved trailing edge span with blended winglet provides better
aerodynamic performance.

INTRODUCTION

Airplane has three sources of drag: (i) profile drag which is related to skin friction caused by flow of air over the
aircraft surface (ii) induced drag which is the result of lift generation for finite wingspan and (iii) the compressibility
effect caused by high speed aerodynamics. Here, profile and induced drag are related to wing shape. Thus wing
shape can play an important role in the reduction of drag. Besides various wingtip devices like winglet can bring
added advantage to the wing shape. The function of winglet is to reduce induced drag. The drag breakdown of a
typical transport aircraft shows that the lift-induced drag may become as much as 40% of the total drag at cruise
conditions and 80–90% of the total drag in take-off configuration [1]. Hence, reducing induced drag will make the
system more fuel economic.
The primary concept of winglet was established by Whitcomb [2] after the 1973 oil crisis – in order to bring
down fuel consumption. After that over the past few decades, improving the winglet device performance has
become one of the most important research interests in the field of aerodynamics. Mostafa et al. [3] studied Spiroid
winglets, wing without winglet and simple winglet in order to make a performance comparison. This study proved
that spiroids were superior compared to other two wingtip configurations in terms of vortex suppression and overall
drag reduction. Najafian et al. [4] investigated the aerodynamic performance of wing with winglet using numerical
simulation based on Control Volume Method. A comparison was made among wing without winglet, simple winglet
and semi-circular winglet based on aerodynamic features such as lift coefficient, drag coefficient, lift/drag ratio and
tip vortices. It was found that semi-circular winglet showed best aerodynamic features. Inam et al. [5] conducted an
experiment on aircraft model with and without winglets at different Reynolds numbers. Experimental results showed
that the drag decreases by 26 ̴ 30% for wing with winglet compared to wing without winglet. Bojja et al. [6] adopted
a numerical approach to make comparison between wing without winglet, circular winglet and blended winglet. The
results showed that the blended wing gave the better performance compared to others. Azlin et al. [7] analyzed the

7th BSME International Conference on Thermal Engineering

AIP Conf. Proc. 1851, 020005-1–020005-8; doi: 10.1063/1.4984634
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1525-6/$30.00

020005-1
aerodynamics characteristics of two winglets with semicircular and elliptical cross section at different angles of
attack through numerical simulation. It was found that elliptical winglet with 45° cant angle showed the best
performance. Raj et al. [8] studied spiroid winglets using numerical simulation software. The results showed that for
spiroid winglet caused higher lift to drag ratio than wing without winglet. Hossain et al. [9] conducted an
experimental analysis for aircraft wing model with and without bird feather like winglet. The experimental result
showed 25-30% reduction in drag coefficient by using bird feather like winglet. Gall et al. [10] examined the
possibility of improving aerodynamic characteristics of bi-plane by using winglets theoretically and experimentally.
Both results indicated that the addition of winglets to biplane can increase the lift-curve slope.
Some researchers have worked on winglet cant angle [11-12]. It was found that 45° cant angle gave the higher
lift force as well as lower drag force. Various numerical techniques have been developed instead of using
commercially available simulation software to analyze the aerodynamic characteristic of winglet. Weierman et al.
[13] conducted an investigation on winglet design and optimization for UAVs (Unmanned Arial Vehicle) that
operate on Reynolds numbers near 106. A VLM (Vortex Lattice Method) and Matlab based Tornado VLM
approaches were developed for designing and optimization of winglet.
In view of the above, it is clear that studies on different winglet configurations like blended, split scimitar,
spiroid, circular, C-section and multi winglets have been conducted by researchers all over the world. But most of
the studies have been focused on the winglet shape only. More studies are required combining specific wing shape
with winglets and more investigations are required to reveal the mechanism behind the performance of wing with
winglets.

MODEL CONSTRUCTION

A wooden model of tapered wing with curved trailing edge (without winglet) as well as two similar wings with
blended winglet and double blended winglet are designed and fabricated in equal span and surface area. The NACA
4412 airfoil has been used as wing cross-section but for winglet structure elliptical cross-section has been used as it
has shown best aerodynamic characteristics during previous studies [7]. The aerodynamic characteristics (Lift
coefficient CL, Drag coefficient CD and Lift to drag ratio L/D) can be calculated from the surface pressure
distribution of the wing [14]. To obtain the pressure distribution over the surfaces, wooden wing models are set in
subsonic wind tunnel and a multi-tube manometer is used to take the pressure readings from the surfaces of the wing
models.

Wing Models

Wooden wing models for curved trailing edge tapered wing, curved trailing edge tapered wing with different
kinds of winglets at the tip (blended winglet, double blended winglet) are prepared that have the same span (300mm)
and equal surface area (33407mm2). Each model provides 32 pressure tappings along the span and Chord (16 at the
upper surface and 16 at the lower surface). Along the span the wings are divided into 4 equal segments. At each
segment there are 4 pressure tappings on the upper surface and 4 pressure tappings on the lower surface. These
pressure tappings are situated at 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% of the average chord length of each segment as shown in
Fig 1.

FIGURE 1. Curved trailing edge tapered wing Planform

020005-2
 After construction of the wing, using elliptical cross-section blended winglet and double blended winglet has
been constructed for the test. Cant angle for two winglets is 45 degree as previous study showed that winglets with
45 degree cant angle gave best results [7]. The winglet design is shown in Fig. 2. The winglets are attached with the
wing at the tip. Now the model is ready for testing. Fig. 3 shows three wooden wing models with and without
winglets.

(a) (b)

(c)

FIGURE 2.Winglet geometry (all scale in mm) a. Side View of Blended Winglet b. Front View of Blended Winglet
c. Side View of Double Blended Winglet

(a) (b)

(c)
FIGURE 3.Schematic diagram of wing models a. Tapered wing with curved trailing edge (without winglet) b. Tapered wing
with curved trailing edge with Blended winglet c. Tapered wing with curved trailing edge with Double Blended winglet

020005-3
 Fixture for Altering Angle of Attack (AOA)

A fixture is constructed and fastened in the test section of the wind tunnel as shown in fig 4. The fixture
promotes the wing models to rotate and fix at any angle of attack. The wing models are experimented with AOA
from -40 to 240 with a stride of 40.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

All the models will be tested at air speed of 108 km/h (0.09 Mach) i.e. at Reynolds Number 2.28 x 10 6 in the
closed circuit wind tunnel available at turbulence laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET. The
wind tunnel is having the experimental space of 700 mm X 700 mm and the wind speed is created by two 700 mm
counter rotating fans. The fans are powered by 400V-3ø-50Hz power supply through a speed controller so that the
wind speed in the tunnel can be varied from 30 km/h (0.025 Mach) to 165 km/h (0.137 Mach). The Static pressure at
different AOA (-4°, 0°, 4°, 8°, 12°, 16°, & 20°) are measured from both upper and lower surfaces of the wing
models through different pressure tapings by using a multi-tube water manometer. The multi-tube manometer
mainly consists of a water tank and 36 manometer glass tubes connected to the tapping points in wing model
surfaces. The water tank is used to store the distilled water. Each limb is fitted with a scale graduated in mm to
measure the difference of water height. The static pressure is calculated from the difference in water height. The
ambient pressure, temperature and humidity were recorded using barometer, thermometer and hygrometer
respectively for the evaluation of air density in the laboratory environment.

FIGURE 4. Schematic diagram of experimental setup

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Wind-tunnel measurements using the constructed wing model without winglet and with winglets are carried out
at Reynolds Number 2.28 x 105. The coefficient of lift and coefficient of drag are calculated from the experimental
results. Also various graphs are drawn to examine the nature of measured and calculated data.

Surface Pressure Distribution

Pressure coefficient for each tapping point (at 20%, 40%, 60% & 80% of chord) is determined from the
measured surface static pressure. In Fig. 5 , distribution of surface pressure coefficient at 40 AOA is shown for each
of the four segments of three wing models that is tapered wing with curved trailing edge (without winglet) as well as
two similar wings with blended winglet and double blended winglet. Similarly, in Fig 6, distribution of surface
pressure coefficient at 120 AOA is shown. From these two figures it is observed that difference in upper and lower
surface pressure is more at higher AOA. At both cases, pressure difference between upper and lower surface is more
for wing with blended winglet. In Fig. 5, near the root of the wing (i.e. at segment A) pressure difference is higher

020005-4
than wing tip (segment D) for all four wing models. But at the tip, difference between upper and lower surface is
more for wing with winglet than wing without winglet. At the middle of the wing (segment B & C), the difference is
comparatively more for wing with blended winglet than other wing model. Same observation is plausible at 120 .

a. b.
-1.5 -1.5
Segment A Segment B
-1 -1
-0.5 0 20 40 60 80 100 -0.5 0 20 40 60 80 100
Cp
Cp 0 0
0.5 0.5
1 1
%C %C
c. d.
-1.5 -1.5
Segment C Segment D
-1 -1
-0.5 0 20 40 60 80 100 -0.5 0 20 40 60 80 100
Cp 0 0
Cp
0.5 0.5
1 1
%C %C

FIGURE 5. Surface Cp distribution of different segments of all four wings at α= 40

a. b.
-2 -2
Segment B
Segment A
-1 -1
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Cp 0 Cp 0

1 1
2 2
%C %C
c. d.
-2 -2
Segment C Segment D
-1 -1
0 50 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Cp 0 Cp 0

1 1

2 2
%C %C

FIGURE 6. Surface Cp distribution of different segments of all four wings at α= 120

020005-5
 Lift Characteristics

Variation of lift coefficient at different angle of attack for three wing models is shown in Fig. 7. From the
analysis of data, it is observed that critical angle of attack for the wing with blended and double blended winglet is
almost 17°. But for wing without winglet it is 14°. It is also clear that wing with blended winglet gives more overall
lift than others.

1.6
1.4
1.2
1

CL 0.8
0.6
0.4
Cl(Without Winglet)
0.2 Cl(Blended winglet)
Cl(Double Blended winglet)
0
-10 0 10 20 30
AOA
FIGURE 7.Variation of lift coefficient (CL) with angle of attack

Drag Characteristics

Fig. 8 shows the variation of drag coefficient for three wings at different angle of attack. It is observed that both
wing models with winglet show lower drag coefficient than wing without winglet and wing with double blended
winglet provides the lowest drag coefficient.

0.25

0.2

0.15
CD
0.1

0.05 Cd(Without winglet)

Cd(Blended Winglet)
Cd(Double blended Winglet)
0
-10 0 10 20 30
AOA
FIGURE 8.Variation of drag coefficient (CD) with AOA

020005-6
 Lift to Drag Ratio

The values of lift to drag ratio are plotted for various angle of attack in Fig.9. From the analysis of data, it is
observed that both wing models with winglet exhibit higher lift to drag ratio than wing without winglet. it is also
observed that the wing with blended winglet provides highest overall lift to drag ratio among the three wing models.
The wing with blended winglet exhibits best lift characteristics but double blended winglet gives lowest drag
coefficient. Although double blended gives lowest drag, it exhibits least lift characteristics than others even wing
without winglet. As a result the lift to drag ratio is best for wing with blended winglet.

15
(Without Winglet)
(Blended winglet)
(Double Blended winglet)
10
L/D
5

0
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
AOA

FIGURE 9.Variation of lift to drag ratio with AOA

CONCLUSION

In this research, study of different kind of winglets is presented where the leading edge of wing planform is
tapered and trailing edge of the wing planform is curved. The overall area of the wings remains same for all three
wing models. The conclusion of the investigation may be summarized as follows:

i. Analyzing drag coefficient and lift coefficient data it can be understood that incorporating winglet at
wingtip will increase lift force and reduce drag force.
ii. Both winglet models i.e. blended and double blended are capable of the reduction of induced drag
caused by wingtip vortices. Addition of forward lift by winglet opposes the drag produced by the
vortices, thus saves fuel cost and increases aircraft engine efficiency.
iii. The stall angle of the wing with winglets is higher than wing without winglet.
iv. Wing with double blended winglet provides the lowest drag coefficient.
v. Wing with winglets has higher lift to drag ratio than wing without winglet. Among two winglet models
blended winglet provides highest overall lift to drag ratio.
vi. Tapering the wing at the leading edge delays drag divergence to higher Mach number. This means
increase in drag is delayed with increase in speed [14]. This fact would be clearer if the drag coefficient
at different wind speed could be analyzed.
vii. Including curve at trailing edge causes the reduction of chord length at the tip which in turn causes the
reduction of tip loss of the curved-edge wing planform.

020005-7
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET for providing wind tunnel
facilities and other technical assistances to conduct the research.

REFERENCES

1. J. P.Marec, “Drag Reduction: A Major Task for Research,” CEAS/ Drag Net European Drag Reduction
conference 2000, Potsdam, Germany, 19-21 June 2000.
2. Richard T. Witcomb, “A Design Approach and Selected Wind-Tunnel Results at High Subsonic Speed for
Wingtip Mounted Winglet,” Langley Research Center Hampton, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Washington, D.C., Va. 23665, NASA TN D-8260, July 1976.
3. Suhail Mostafa, Shyam Bose, Archana Nair, Mansoor Abdul Raheem , Thasneem Majeed, Atiqur Mohammed,
and Young Kim., “A parametric investigation of non-circular spiroid winglets,” EPJ Web of Conferences 67,
02077 (2014).
4. Ashrafi Najafian, Zabihollah, and Ahmad Sedaghat, “Improving the Aerodynamic Performance of a Wing with
Winglet,” Internatıonal Journal of Natural and Engineering Sciences 8 (3): 52-57, 2014.
5. Mohammad Ilias Inam, Mohammad Mashud, Abdullah-Al-Nahian, and S. M. S. Selim, “Induced Drag
Reduction for Modern Aircraft without Increasing the Span of the Wing by Using Winglet,” International
Journal of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering, IJMME-IJENS Vol: 10 No: 03, 2010.
6. Alekhya Bojja, and Parthasarathy Garre, “Analysis on Reducing the Induced Drag Using the Winglet at the
Wingtip,” International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), ISSN: 2278-0181, Vol. 2
Issue 12, December 2013.
7. M. A. Azlin, C. F Mat Taib, S. Kasolang, and F.H Muhammad Azlin, “CFD Analysis of Winglets at Low
Subsonic Flow,” Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering Vol I, London, U.K, July 6 - 8, 2011.
8. W.GiftonKoil Raj, and T.AmalSeba Thomas, “Design and Analysis of Spiroid Winglet,” International Journal
of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology (An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization)
Vol. 4, Issue 3, March 2015.
9. Altab Hossain, Ataur Rahman, A.K.M. P. Iqbal, M. Ariffin, and M. Mazian, “Drag Analysis of an Aircraft
Wing Model with and without Bird Feather like Winglet,” World Academy of Science, Engineering and
Technology, International Journal of Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial and Mechatronics Engineering Vol:5
No:9, 2011.
10. Peter D. Gall, and Hubert C. Smith, “Aerodynamic Characteristics of Biplanes with Winglets,” Journal of
Aircraft, Vol. 24, No. 8 (1987), pp. 518-522.
11. A Rajesh, Dr. M S Ganesha Prasad, and Praveen A S., “Design and Analysis of UCAV Wing with a winglet by
Varying the Cant Angle,” International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT), ISSN: 2278-
0181, Vol. 4 Issue 05, May 2015.
12. Kenny Mark V. Dinesh, Dharni Vasudhevan Venkatesan, Santhosh Kumar B., Sree Radesh R., and V. R. Sanal
KumarDinesh., “Diagnostic Investigation of Aircraft Performance at Different Winglet Cant Angles,” World
Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial,
Mechatronic and Manufacturing Engineering Vol:8, No:12, 2014.
13. Jacob Weierman, and Jamey D. Jacob, “Winglet Design and Optimization for UAVs,” AIAA 2010-4224, 28th
AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, Chicago, Illinois, 28 June - 1 July 2010.
14. John D Anderson Jr., Introduction to Flight (Tata McGraw-Hill, Sixth Edition, New Delhi, 2010), pp. 251-380.
.

020005-8
View publication stats