AERODYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF VARIABLE GEOMETRY RAKED WINGTIP

Abstract

A computational and experimental analysis of a wing model with Variable Geometry Raked Wingtip (VGRWT) has been conducted to determine the aerodynamic performance advantages over an untreated wingtip. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed to study the flow behaviour over the wing and the effect of changing the wingtip geometry on aerodynamic parameters such as lift, drag, and circulation. Wing models with raked wingtips at different angles of rake (250 , 300 , 400 , 500 ) and a baseline model with an untreated wingtip have been designed through Solidworks software. The designs are then imported to ANSYS (Fluent) software to carry out numerical investigation at different angles of attack (0 0 , 2 0 , 4 0 , 6 0 and 8 0 ). After that, the best-performing wing (Based on the simulation results) was fabricated and experimented with to validate the simulation results. All the simulations and experiments are conducted at a constant velocity of 20 m/s (0.0583 Mach). The results revealed that changing the geometry of the wingtip can have a profound impact on the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. In particular, the study showed that raked wingtips could significantly enhance the lift-to-drag ratio, improving fuel efficiency and reducing emissions. The results of the CFD simulations also indicated that the angle of the rake plays a critical role in determining the aerodynamic performance of the raked wingtips. Optimizing the angle of the rake for specific flight conditions made it possible to achieve even more significant improvements in the lift-todrag ratio. Furthermore, the study found that the benefits of raked wingtips were particularly pronounced at high angles of attack and during takeoff and landing, where the improvement in lift and reduction in drag could have a substantial impact on the performance of the aircraft.