An Inviscid Aerodynamic Investigation of Wing/Winglet Geometries for RPV Applications

Wings constructed using the Wortmann FX 63-137 low speed airfoil, which operates in a Reynold's number range from 0.28 * 10⁶ to 0.7 * 10⁶, with the addition of winglets are studied to determine the winglet geometry that produces the best increase in wing efficiency. The analysis was done using VSAERO, an inviscid panel code program. All configurations are compared to a wing without winglets to determine the percent increase in efficiency. It is demonstrated that with proper selection of winglet taper ratio, tip setback, height, cant angle, geometric twist angle, and airfoil section induced drag can be significantly reduced. Wings with winglets are shown to be more efficient than wings without winglets for all cases.