EFFECT OF A WINGLETS WITH 90O CANT ANGLE IN THE GENERATION OF VIBRATIONS ON A HALF WING WITH A SYMMETRICAL NACA 0018 AIRFOIL

Abstract

Movement of the air flow around the wing, thus modifying the pressure field around it and, as a result, the aerodynamic forces acting on it and generating vibrational waves that affect the entire aircraft. All these factors directly influence the efficiency of an aircraft, thus increasing fuel consumption. Adding winglets can reduce the drag, the size of the 3 vortices it generates, and therefore have a friendlier ecological impact and reduce energy costs by reducing fuel burn. In this project we made a comparison of vibration parameters generating by wing without winglets and wing with winglet, performing a wind tunnel analysis. To complete the comparison we studied: how vibrations affect aerodynamic efficiency; the causes of the creation of vibrations and vortices in the wing tips; the innovations in wing design that have been created to help increase aerodynamic efficiency. Than we selected winglet profile, designed the CAD files of the two half wings, and manufactured using additive technology and performed an aerodynamic analysis in the university's wind tunnel, using a Micro Strain G-LINK-200-40g vibration sensor. Vibrational analysis showed that, in effect, wing tip devices or winglets, manage to reduce the magnitude of vibrations by an average 29.89%, for all angles of attack and speeds at which both half wings were tested.