Article Title: Analysis on Aircraft Winglet at Different Angles by Using CFD Simulation

Abstract: Everyday aerospace engineers are researching ways to improve aircrafts’ fuel consumption and traveling distance. William E. Somerville discovered that winglets help improve the efficiency of a fixed-wing aircraft by reducing vortex drag. During this research, we will be modeling and studying a variety of winglets in a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. In the article “Analysis on Aircraft Winglet at Different Angles by Using CFD Simulation”, the author does the same study. During this research, we plan on testing a blended winglet. In this article, they tested blended winglets and rated winglets. This article gives us a solid foundation on how we should approach our CFD modeling/testing.

Article Title: Blended Winglets Improve Performance

Abstract: The goal of our senior seminar project is to design, test, and gather data on a variety of winglets. One of the many designs we have been researching is the blended winglet design. This article puts heavy focus on the blended winglet design and the effects it has on airplanes. One of those effects is drag reduction which is a primary focus in our seminar project. Other effects of blended winglets include fuel reduction, and reduced gas emissions.

Abstract: This paper presents the comparative study of the effectiveness of three different winglet designs in reducing lift induced drag by changing the number of vortices and vortex distribution at the wingtip and correlating it to the aerodynamic characteristics of the baseline wing. The best three winglet geometries are appended to wings of different aspect ratio to further study their effectiveness in reducing drag and augmenting the lift coefficient. Computational simulations were performed on Ansys Fluent V15 using the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes equations coupled with the SST turbulence model to study the three dimensional flow and vortex structure about the half wing.

Article Title: Computational and Experimental Analysis of Multi-Winglet at Low Subsonic Speed

Abstract: In modern day, winglet designs are evolving constantly. Winglets are used on manned and unmanned aircrafts. From research, winglets have proven that they can improve the efficiency of an aircraft’s performance. During this research, we will be modeling three different wings with blended wingtips. During this experiment, the cant-sweep angle is varied of 45°, 60°, and 90°. In this article, the same approach is happening while their cant-angles are 50 °, 65 °, and 80 °. Like the first article, this will help the improvement in meshing and using the correct measurements when gathering computation fluid dynamics (CFD) data. This article also designs a 3D printed model, and it is tested in the Alliance University’s wind tunnel to compare experimental and computational results. This is essential because my team has never 3D printed before, and our end goal is to compare experimental and computational results from MSU’s wind tunnel

Article Title: A CFD ANALYSIS OF WINGTIP DEVICES TO IMPROVE LIFT AND DRAG CHARACTERISTICS OF AIRCRAFT WING

Abstract: This article studies different shapes of winglets and how those shapes affect the lift and drag coefficients of the entire airfoil. They used NACA 0012, 2415, and 23015 airfoils at 79.16 m/s at angles of attack of 0°, 4°, 8°, 12°, 16°, and 20°. They also used different winglet shaped to compare a plain wing, a blended winglet, a spiroid winglet, a wingtip fence, and a mini winglet. NACA profiles based on lift and drag coefficients are This will help when investigating our project because we are wanting to find lift and drag coefficients of our 3D printed airfoils, along with CFD and wind tunnel testing. This will be a good base for the lift and drag coefficient part of our project.

Article Title: A parametric investigation of non-circular spiroid winglets

Abstract: This article involves the study and testing of spiroid winglets using Ansys fluent. The authors find the optimal spiroid winglet to reduce drag, L/D, pressure distribution, and vorticity at cruise speeds. Through this study they hope to gain a better understanding of spiroids and their impact on wing aerodynamics. The authors explain that they do this by using ANSYS to perform CFD on varied winglet geometries created in SolidWorks and that they concluded spiroids have better performance than other configurations. By varying different aspects of the spiroid winglets, they hope to optimize the winglet and then compare the CFD results with a conventional winglet. By simulating and collecting the L/D data, the authors were able to create a plot of all the configurations and show that having a spiroid winglet greatly decreased the Cd values. The results also showed that the spiroids greatly increased range and endurance when added to the airfoil.

Article Title: Aircrafts winglets analysis in CFD

Abstract: The overall objective of our senior seminar project is to design multiple winglets and run tests on them to measure their effect on drag reduction. We plan to run analytical tests as well as experimental tests on the winglets we chose to gather data on. The analytical tests will be done using CFD(computational fluid dynamics) software such as ANSYS Fluent, and the experimental test will be done using the wind tunnel located on MSU's campus. This article heavily relates to our project. The project that this is article is based on is almost a 1:1 ratio of we wish to accomplish for our own senior project. It goes into great detail about the CFD on the winglets which is our first big obstacle with our project. The only differences in the two projects are that we are also doing wind tunnel testing as well as testing different types of winglets. With all that being said, I believe that this article will serve as a great resource as we move forward in our senior project.