Winglets on low aspect ratio wings

Abstract

The drag reduction potentially available from the use of winglets at the tips of low aspect ratio (1.75-2.67) wings with pronounced (45-60 deg) leading edge sweep is assessed numerically for the case of a cruise design point at Mach of 0.8 and a lift coefficient of 0.3. Both wing-winglet and wing-alone design geometries are derived from a linear-theory, minimum induced drag design methodology. Relative performance is evaluated with a nonlinear extended small disturbance potential flow analysis code. Predicted lift coefficient/pressure drag coefficient increases at equal lift for the wing-winglet configurations over the wing-alone planform are of the order of 14.6-15.8, when boundary layer interaction is included.