Computational study of slotted winglets on aircraft wings

A comparative analysis on winglet with and without slots on a NACA 0012 of Aspect ratio 2 wing is conducted to find the impact on growth and rollup of the wingtip vortex and its effects on induced drag, parasitic drag, coefficient of lift, coefficient of drag and other aerodynamic characteristics. The analysis of a total of three wing-winglet configurations is done on SU2, at a cant angle of 70°, two half wingspan length slotted winglets, and one-half wingspan length solid winglet is included. The outcomes of the simulations were compared between the slotted and solid winglets at various cant angles in order to determine the variation in performance. This analysis is done as a confirmatory study of the previous force-based experiment which showed drastic change in wing performance at higher angles of attack. Particle image velocimetry test showed that the winglet with slots lowered induced drag, the peak azimuthal velocity, entropy generation and the separation between the wingtip vortex and Free shear layer of the wingtip vortex.