Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Multi-Winglets

Abstract

An extensive experimental study is conducted to examine the potentiality of Multi-Winglets (similar to bird tip feathers) for the reduction of Induced Drag, improved CL without increase in span of aircraft wing. The model composed of a rectangular wing built from NACA 0015 airfoil constituted of three winglets, which are small wings without sweep & twist. The test conducted in subsonic wind tunnel at flow speed 20m/s and placing the wing at angle of attack ranging from -5 to +15 deg. And also the wing with no winglet (bare wing) and with single winglet also tested in the same condition as in the case of three winglets (multi-winglet). Wind tunnel balances provided lift measurements and tuft flow visualization obtained wingtip vortex information. The results show that multi-winglet system reduced induced drag by 27.9% and improved CL by 26.5% compare to bare wing.