Numerical Analysis on the Effect of Fluidic on Demand Winglet on the Aerodynamic Performance of the Wing

A numerical study was undertaken to study the effect of the span wise injection on the performance of a 3D wing at a velocity of 15 m/s and angle of attack of 6°, 8°, and 10°. A baseline configuration along with injection at tip was studied. A study was conducted to understand the flow field and the winglet control techniques. Based on the study, a wing configuration was chosen as baseline configurations and different injection velocities were applied to this configuration. The chord wise pressure distribution is seen to change with the span wise location from the root and this distribution is affected by the wing tip vortex. The wingtip was observed to change the pressure distribution near the tip. The velocity field, stream lines and the vortices were seen to be affected by the presence of the injection. The lift and drag values were seen to decrease with the angle of attack but the l/d ratio remained nearly constant for all the injection configurations. Maximum reduction in drag of nearly 19% could be achieved with the injection. This study proved the possibility of using span wise injection as a control method to control the wing tip vortex.