Camber morphing winglet influence on aircraft drag breakdown and tip vortex structure

• Published in: Aerospace science and technology Vol. 119; p. 107148
• Main Authors: Eguea, João Paulo, Bravo-Mosquera, Pedro David, Catalano, Fernando Martini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Masson SAS 01.12.2021
• Subjects: CFD; Drag breakdown; Morphing structures; Wing tip vortex; Winglet; Morphing structures; CFD; Winglet; Drag breakdown; Wing tip vortex
• ISSN: 1270-9638; 1626-3219
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ast.2021.107148

Aircraft design is a complex multidisciplinary task that demands the application of different analytical, computational, and experimental methods at each design phase. The camber morphing winglet on a business jet was investigated using full-potential code and computational fluid dynamics package to analyze the usage of medium-fidelity methods on initial concept design and optimization. The results showed that the full-potential model provided an accurate and fast estimation of the camber morphing winglet performance. An aircraft drag breakdown and wingtip vortex analysis showed how the camber morphing winglet affects the performance. A smaller and less intense vortex due to the camber morphing winglet reduced the induced drag. The optimized winglet reduced the aircraft pressure drag even in the presence of flow separation at the climb and weak shock waves at cruise on the winglet surface. The analyses provided further understanding of the camber morphing winglet influence on aircraft aerodynamics and highlighted technology potential for performance improvement.