An Experimental Investigation on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of NACA 4412 with Winglets

Fuel crisis is a major problem for airline industry. Operating cost of this industry will eventually be increased with the increase of fuel crisis. So, it is necessary to design more fuel efficient aircraft. Reducing aerodynamic drag is a great way to minimize fuel consumption. Two thirds of aircraft drag are produced from the wings. This drag is a combination of profile drag, induced drag and compressibility drag. The drag breakdown of a typical transport aircraft shows that the induced drag can be as much as 40% of the total drag at cruise conditions and 80-90% of the total drag in take-off configuration. Hence, reducing induced drag is a great way to save fuel cost during takeoff and results in a longer cruising range. This study deals with the curved trailing edge tapered wing by adding different winglets at the wing tip. All the models are tested at air speed of 98.64 km/h (0.08 Mach). The Static pressure at different AOA (-4 degrees, 0 degrees, 4 degrees, 8 degrees, 12 degrees, 16 degrees, 20 degrees & 24 degrees) is measured from both upper and lower surfaces of the wing models through different pressure tapping by using a multi-tube water manometer. The aerodynamic characteristics (Coefficient of Lift, Coefficient of Drag and Lift to Drag ratio) for different models are determined from the static pressure distribution. The experimental results show that lift to drag ratio increases and induced drag decreases for wing models with winglets compared to wing model without winglet for the Reynolds number considered in the present study.