The Investigation of an Inboard-Winglet Application to a Roadable Aircraft

The inboard-winglet concept was examined for its flow characteristics by testing for pressure coefficients over the wing and winglet surface in the Virginia Tech Stability Wind Tunnel over a range of freestream velocity and angle of attack. The results were analytically applied to calculate aircraft performance of a roadable aircraft, Pegasus II, which used the inboard-winglet concept in its design. The results proved that this concept has the potential to increase a wing lift coefficient at the right combination of thrust setting and freestream velocity better than a conventional wing-propeller arrangement. The lift coefficient inside the winglet channel was approximated as 2D in behavior. It is also shown that the winglets produce thrust at a positive-lift wing configuration. In the Pegasus II, the vertical stabilizers act like inboard winglets and produce a thrust component from its resultant force, giving 5.2% improvement in its effective aspect ratio and resulting in an induced-drag decrease. With an application of the new wing concept, the Pegasus II performance is comparable to other general aviation aircraft.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Aerospace and Ocean Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Aerospace and Ocean Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Intaratep, Nanyaporn

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Marchman, James F. III

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Devenport, William J.
• Schetz, Joseph A.

• roadable aircraft
• aerodynamics
• conceptual design
• propeller-induced flow
• inboard winglet

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06112002-115347

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/33519