Biomimetic spiroid winglets for lift and drag control

Joel E. Guerrero; Dario Maestro; Alessandro Bottaro

doi:10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007

Biomimetic spiroid winglets for lift and drag control

Joel E. Guerrero ¹ ; Dario Maestro ¹; Alessandro Bottaro ¹

¹ University of Genoa, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, DICAT, Via Montallegro 1, 16145 Genoa, Italy

Comptes Rendus. Mécanique, Volume 340 (2012) no. 1-2, pp. 67-80.

Abstract

In aeronautical engineering, drag reduction constitutes a challenge and there is room for improvement and innovative developments. The drag breakdown of a typical transport aircraft shows that the lift-induced drag can amount to as much as 40% of the total drag at cruise conditions and 80–90% of the total drag in take-off configuration. One way of reducing lift-induced drag is by using wingtip devices. By applying biomimetic abstraction of the principle behind a birdʼs wingtip feathers, we study spiroid wingtips, which look like an extended blended wingtip that bends upward by 360 degrees to form a large rigid ribbon. The numerical investigation of such a wingtip device is described and preliminary indications of its aerodynamic performance are provided.

Published online: 2011-12-30

DOI: 10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007

Keywords: Computational fluid mechanics, Spiroid winglets, Lift-induced drag, Drag reduction, Biomimetics

Author's affiliations:

Joel E. Guerrero ¹; Dario Maestro ¹; Alessandro Bottaro ¹

¹ University of Genoa, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, DICAT, Via Montallegro 1, 16145 Genoa, Italy

@article{CRMECA_2012__340_1-2_67_0,
     author = {Joel E. Guerrero and Dario Maestro and Alessandro Bottaro},
     title = {Biomimetic spiroid winglets for lift and drag control},
     journal = {Comptes Rendus. M\'ecanique},
     pages = {67--80},
     publisher = {Elsevier},
     volume = {340},
     number = {1-2},
     year = {2012},
     doi = {10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007},
     language = {en},
}

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Joel E. Guerrero
AU  - Dario Maestro
AU  - Alessandro Bottaro
TI  - Biomimetic spiroid winglets for lift and drag control
JO  - Comptes Rendus. Mécanique
PY  - 2012
SP  - 67
EP  - 80
VL  - 340
IS  - 1-2
PB  - Elsevier
DO  - 10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007
LA  - en
ID  - CRMECA_2012__340_1-2_67_0
ER  -

%0 Journal Article
%A Joel E. Guerrero
%A Dario Maestro
%A Alessandro Bottaro
%T Biomimetic spiroid winglets for lift and drag control
%J Comptes Rendus. Mécanique
%D 2012
%P 67-80
%V 340
%N 1-2
%I Elsevier
%R 10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007
%G en
%F CRMECA_2012__340_1-2_67_0

Joel E. Guerrero; Dario Maestro; Alessandro Bottaro. Biomimetic spiroid winglets for lift and drag control. Comptes Rendus. Mécanique, Volume 340 (2012) no. 1-2, pp. 67-80. doi : 10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/mecanique/articles/10.1016/j.crme.2011.11.007/

References
Cited by

[1] J. Jupp Wing aerodynamics and the science of compromise, Aeronautical Journal, Volume 105 ( November 2001 ) no. 1053, pp. 633-641

[2] J.R. Chambers, Concept to reality: Contributions of the Langley Research Center to U.S. Civil Aircraft of the 1990s, NASA History Series, NASA SP-2003-4529, 2003.

[3] Assessment of Wingtip Modifications to Increase the Fuel Efficiency of Air Force Aircraft, Committee on Assessment of Aircraft Winglets for Large Aircraft Fuel Efficiency, Air Force Studies Board Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, The National Academies Press, 2007

[4] R. Faye, R. Laprete, M. Winter, Blended winglets, M. Aero, No. 17, Boeing, January 2002.

[5] V.A. Tucker Drag reduction by wing tip slots in a gliding Harris Hawk, Parabuteo Unicinctus, J. Exp. Biol., Volume 198 (1995), pp. 775-781

[6] A. Hossain; A. Rahman; A. Iqbal; M. Ariffin; M. Mazian Drag analysis of an aircraft wing model with and without bird feather like winglet, Int. J. Aeros. Mech. Eng., Volume 6 (2012) no. 1, pp. 8-13

[7] J. Spillman The use of wing tip sails to reduce vortex drag, Aeronaut. J., Volume 82 (1978), pp. 387-395

[8] D.S. Miklosovic Analytic and experimental investigation of dihedral configurations of three-winglet planforms, J. Fluids Eng., Volume 130 ( July 2008 ) no. 7, p. 0711103/1-0711103/10

[9] L.B. Gratzer, Spiroid-tipped wing, U.S. Patent 5,102,068, 7 April 1992.

[10] I.C. Gebeshuber; M. Drack An attempt to reveal synergies between biology and mechanical engineering, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. C J. Mech. Eng., Volume 222 (2008) no. 7, pp. 1281-1287

[11] T. Wan, H.-C. Chou, K.-W. Lien, Aerodynamic efficiency study of modern spiroid winglets, in: 25th Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical, Sciences, September 2006, Germany, Paper ICAS 2006-3.7S.

[12] M. Nazarinia; M.R. Soltani; K. Ghorbanian Experimental study of vortex shapes behind a wing equipped with different winglets, Journal of Aerospace Science and Technology, Volume 3 (2006) no. 1, pp. 1-15

[13] OpenFOAM User Guide, OpenCFD Limited. Version 2.0.0, June 2011.

[14] P.K. Sweby High resolution schemes using flux limiters for hyperbolic conservation laws, SIAM J. Numer. Anal., Volume 21 (1984), pp. 995-1011

[15] J.H. Ferziger; M. Peric Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2001

[16] P.R. Spalart, S.R. Allmaras, A one-equation turbulence model for aerodynamic flows, AIAA Paper 92-0439-CP, 1992.

[17] R.T. Whitcomb, A design approach and selected wind-tunnel results at high subsonic speeds for wing-tip mounted winglets, NASA Technical Note, NASA TN D-8260, July 1976.

[18] M.D. Maughmer, The design of winglets for high-performance sailplanes, AIAA Paper 2001-2406-CP, 2001.

[19] R. Haines, D. Kenwright, On the velocity gradient tensor and fluid feature extraction, AIAA Paper 1999-3288-CP, 1999.

Cited by Sources:

Comments - Policy