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Drag Reduction and Turbulent Characteristics of a Low Aspect Ratio Wing with Fluidic On-Demand Winglet
- Deepnil Dutta - Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, India ,
- Anubhav Dasgupta - Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, India ,
- Prince Raj Lawrence Raj - Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, India ,
- Koustuv Debnath - Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, India
Journal Article
01-16-01-0003
ISSN: 1946-3855, e-ISSN: 1946-3901
Sector:
Topic:
Citation:
Dutta, D., Dasgupta, A., Lawrence Raj, P., and Debnath, K., "Drag Reduction and Turbulent Characteristics of a Low Aspect Ratio Wing with Fluidic On-Demand Winglet," SAE Int. J. Aerosp. 16(1):39-55, 2023, https://doi.org/10.4271/01-16-01-0003.
Language:
English
Abstract:
An investigation was carried out to evaluate the potential aerodynamic benefit of
spanwise jet injection from the wingtips. Aircraft currently use conventional
solid winglets that add extra structural weight. However, results reveal that
fluidic on-demand winglets effectively reduce drag for low-speed flight regimes
without the addition of any extra weight. These utilize the spanwise airflow
from the wingtips using hydraulic actuators to create jets that negate tip
vortices. This research aims to investigate the fluidic winglet jet
characteristics on the aerodynamic performance of the wing. Results indicate
that the spanwise blowing shifts the core of the wingtip vortices upward and
outward from the wing surface. In a particular range of jet velocity ratio, the
magnitude of vorticity near the wingtips tends to reduce, resulting in a
reduction of induced drag. Scrutiny of turbulence parameters such as turbulent
kinetic energy (TKE) and turbulent dissipation rate due to fluidic winglet
provided insight into the physics of the flow modulation such as diffusion of
vorticity field due to jet injection. The simulation results reveal that jet
injection, particularly for the regimes of jet injection velocity where
significant drag reduction is achieved, and the scales of turbulence reduce
close to the wing surface, highlighting that additional turbulence control
measures are not required to implement fluidic winglets. The culmination of this
study is that the implementation of fluidic winglets leads to a significant
reduction in drag at low speeds for low aspect ratio wings.