Chapter 1 Introduction

In any design process, it is essential to determine and analyze the most extreme conditions in which the resulting product will be serving and the designer should take appropriate measures so as to withstand it and still serve at its best. While designing wings the primary requirement is to generate sufficient amount of lift. Lift is dependent on wing area, wing cross section, density of the fluid and the free stream velocity. One case in which the wing may not be able to produce enough lift is during landing. As the aircraft approaches a runway for landing the forward and vertical speed has to be very less. For a Boeing 737 the forward speed is around 140 knots and 700 ft/min descent making glide ratio of about 3. A challenge remains that the same wing has to function at cruise speed as well as during landing. Hence, a designer can play with the cross section of the wing, area of the wing and the energy in fluid. This process requires study and experience in the field of wing aerodynamics, boundary layer theory and optimization. There are various devices used in a wing in order to make the flow as favorable as possible. Meaning the flow is made such that the main function of the wing which is to generate enough lift is observed. Flow separation is the main problem source which a wing faces at low velocities. Various devices include flap, slats, vortex generators and winglets. These are being used extensively in modern aircrafts to achieve better characteristics out of the wing. Existing literature shows the importance of all the four devices listed above and will be explained in further sections. It is in the interest of any aerodynamics engineer to see the effect of all the devise combined. This text makes an effort in that direction by showing all the four devices individually and then combined in later section.

Chapter 2 Background Theory

2.1 Flaps Flaps are hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed at which an aircraft can be safely flown and to increase the angle of descent for landing. They shorten takeoff and landing distances. Flaps do this by lowering the stall speed and increasing the drag. Deployment of flaps affects the cross section of the wing. As flaps are used, the camber of the airfoil increases. Since Cl, Cd and Cm depend on the airfoil which is used, the overall lift increases.

Fig 1. Flaps and airfoils on wing Flaps are present inboard of the aircraft and usually cover about 60 to 70 % of the span starting from root of the wing. Rest of the span is used for ailerons. In some cases this can also be divided into two parts inboard flap and aileron and outboard flap and aileron as shown in figure 1. There are various configurations of flaps which can be used by the designer including slotted flaps, Gurney flap, etc. A gap between the flap and the wing makes it slotted flap or double slotted flap. It has an advantage of directing the airflow onto the surface of the flap avoiding the problem of flow separation of at flaps which may render it useless.
2

Fig 2. Different types of flaps

Fig 3.Comparision between wing with and without flap (lift vs alpha)[1] As shown in Figure 3 and given in [book], the lift can improve by as much as 70% by the use of flaps. However use of flaps alone can cause further problems. As an induced upwash is generated at the leading edge due to the deployment if flaps, this may aid to the flow separation. This problem is solved by the use of slats as shown below.

2.2 Slats As the angle of attack increases, the flow tends to separate from the wing. Deployment if flaps cause the circulation to increase. This induces an upwash at the leading edge of the airfoil Due to this, the wing will stall at a lower angle of attack than that of a basic wing. Flow separation will cause the wing to stall as no more lift generation will be possible. Moreover, deployment of flaps makes a further increment in angle at the trailing edge. This effects the overall wing as sudden loss of lift is a possibility, i.e. stall characteristics will not be smooth. To avoid such situation, slats are used. Slats are devices at the leading edge of the wing. It creates a nozzle-shaped passage making the airflow to pass between the two surfaces delaying the flow separation.

Fig 4. Slats on a wing However, use of these devices increase the drag significantly. The slats can be of automatic or fixed type. Fixed type will cause large drag whereas the automatic slats system will add weight to the aircraft. This increment in drag should be balanced by the propulsion system of the aircraft so as not to hit thee stall speed.

Fig 5. Effect of slats on flow

4

When flaps and slats both are used the lift can improve drastically as shown in figure 6

Fig 6. Lift versus angle of attack for wing with and without flaps and slats and both Practically, it is important to use slats and flaps together in order to obtain better properties. 2.3 Vortex Generators Vortex generators (VG) are vanes protruding out of the top surface of the wing that create vortices when the floe passes over the wing. VGs are placed at an angle relative to the incoming air flow so as to create vortices from the tip of the vanes shown in fig 7 and 8.

Fig 7. 3d representation of vortices behind VGs over a wing This flow draws energetic flow from outside the boundary layer to contact the aircraft skin. Moreover, the boundary layer thickens as it reaches trailing edge. This, to a certain extent, is cured by use of VGs. Due to this, the stall velocity of the aircrafts can be made to decrease further. Moreover, since the flow is made to stick to the surface for a longer length, the control surfaces remain effective even at high angles of attack. They can be used anywhere on the body where flow separation problem occurs.

Fig 8. VGs near the leading edge of the wing If an aircraft reaches near Mach no 1 speed, the flow over the airfoil may already reach Mach no 1 due to airfoil curvature. This makes a shock wave to present. The air after the shock wave is very turbulent. This makes the airfoil after the shock effectively in stall condition, i.e. the wing will be partially stalled. This may lead to aileron failure, i.e. inability of the aileron to function properly, Fig 9.

Fig 9. Effect on boundary layer and avoidance of supersonic region due to VGs Numerical simulation of vortex generators requires resolution of boundary layer over the wing surface. This calls for very dense and organized meshing at the wing and high level computing facilities for the application of suitable model. Study on VGs involves extensive study in boundary layer theory. Lauren P. McManus [2] shows the effect of VGs in high speed flow and the flow is captured for visualization by various means, one shown in fig 10 . Masaru Koike [3] shows how a sedan car is affected from use of VGs at near the back. It gave a reduction in lift and drag coefficient.

Fig 10. Schleiren image of vortices behind VGs[2] 2.4 Winglets Winglets are wing tip devices intended to increase the efficiency of the wing. Wings generate vortices at the tips because of difference between the pressures under and over the wing. These wing tip vortices decrease the effective angle of attack of the whole wing. This is turn reduces the efficiency of the wing by decreasing the lift to drag. It is preferable to have high lift to drag ratio in order have good glide distances. This helps in improving the fuel efficiency of the wing.
7

There are various kinds of winglets which have been developed and used. Some examples include Hoener winglets, fence winglets, raked winglets etc. shown in figures.

Fig 11. Different types of winglets

In Boeing 737 MAX, a new type of winglet is introduced which resembles a hybrid between raked winglet, fence winglet and blended winglet.

Fig 12. Winglets on B-737 MAX Winglets are also used in rotating blades of a helicopter as seen in Augusta Westland AW101. Study of winglets is quite extensive and requires special methods and theories which different from that of rest of the wing.

Chapter 3

Study
3.1 Flaps Lot of study of the above mentioned devices has been done. Michael S. Selig[4] worked on low Reynolds number airfoils and introduces S1223 airfoil for the same. He also tested the airfoil with use of Gurney flap and vortex generators. The lift curve shows a hysteresis between angles 16 and 20 degrees when vortex generators are used. This shows good stall recovery by the airfoil with a decrement of 1.4 in coefficient of lift and 4 degrees if angle of attack. With the use of Gurney flap an increment of about 5% is observed in coefficient of lift.

Fig 13. Results from [4] CFD Analysis on flaps is shown here. NACA 2406 airfoil is used with a flap at 80% chord deflected at an angle 20 degrees. The control volume is set as circle with radius approximately 8.5c. The circle is set as farfield with desired Mach number and flow direction. The mesh, as shown in figure below, is densely packed near the airfoil and in between the airfoil and slat and flap. k- model with enhance wall treatment was used. The coefficients were then allowed to converge. Farfield settings were set at Mach 0.2 and angle components were set accordingly.

Fig 14. Mesh for airfoil with flap

Fig 15. Pressure contour for airfoil 2406 with flap

Fig 16. Velocity contour for airfoil 2406 with flap

10

2406 without flap 2406 with flap From thin airfoil theory

Cl Cd 0.22 0.0182 0.76 0.0144 Table 1. CFD results for airfoil with flaps

Where And For a flap at a distance xf from the leading edge deflected at angle the additional Cl is given by

And

Where

3.2 Slats: A study of slats in combination with flap is shown here. NACA 2412 airfoil is used with a leading edge slat and a trailing edge flap at 80% chord and deflected at an angle of 20 degrees. The design of slat has been iterated twice in order to obtain significant difference in flow patterns and values. The lower edge of the slat is changed to make a curve and not sharp as shown in the figures below.

11

Fig 17. Curved Slat

Fig 18. Slat with edge Now that the slat is somewhat optimized, the CFD analysis was carried out and results are summarized in the table show below with the streamlines.

12

Fig 19. Airfoil with slat at angle of attack 20 degrees The airfoil is analyzed at an angle of 20 degrees first and then compared to airfoil without slats at same angle

Fig 20. Airfoil without slat at angle of attack 20 degrees

13

Fig 21. Airfoil with slat at angle of attack 25 degrees.

0.25 0.2 Coeffieient of lift 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 Cl

2.5

10

15

20

25

Angle of attack

(a)

14

0.025 0.02 0.015 Cd 0.01 0.005 0 0 2.5 5 10 15 20 25 Series1

Angle of attack

(b)
0.007

0.006
0.005 Cm 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 0 0 2.5 5 10 15 20 25 Angle of attack Series1

(c) Fig 22. Coefficient of (a) lift (b) drag (c) moment versus angle of attack for airfoil with slat and flap As evident from the streamline patterns the flow separation region starts quite early for an airfoil without slats, about 55-60% chord. On the other hand, for airfoil with slats, the region shifts back to almost 80-90% chord.

15

3.3 Winglets: There doesnt exist any fixed methodology for winglet design process. The trial and error method is used in addition with experience by the designers while designing winglets. However, in the method of trial and error there exists crossover point method [5]. It says that the efforts should be made in the direction where the proper trade-off between profile drag and induced rag is obtained.

Hence, the crossover point is the flight speed at which the benefit in induced drag is equal to profile drag penalty. Later on, modified crossover point method is introduced in which instead of equating the drags only, it was written in terms of parameters which describe winglet geometry and resulting aerodynamic forces as ( ) ( )

Where WT subscript corresponds to wingtip region that is removed to mount the winglet, subscript l to refer to the original wing and 2 to refer to the modified wing, b is span and K induced drag factor. It is important to analyze winglets, experimentally or numerically (if enough computation resources are available) in order to achieve the results showing its particular effect. Winglets were studied by M.A. Azlin et. al.[6] by numerically analyzing elliptical and semicircular type winglets at various angles of attack. The result, as shown below, shows a significant improvement in lift to drag ratio ranging between 2 to 8 percent.

16

Fig 23. Results from [6] Also, an analysis on wing planform for MAV by Jasdeep Singh[7] shows an increment of 5% in coefficient of lift as shown below (planform 5- with winglet and planform 4- without winglet).

Fig 24. Resluts from [7]

17

And the streamlines showing the difference in wing tip vortices as they are moved out of the plane of the wing.

(a)

(b) Fig 25. Difference in streamlines at wingtip due to winglets

18

Chapter 4 Conclusion
4.1 Work conclusion In most of the cases, VGs, slats, winglets and flaps are used to enhance the performance of the aircraft. In the figure shown below, a comparison of climb paths of an aircraft with and without slats, VGs or both is shown.

Fig 26. Comparison of aircraft using VGs and slats and both It also shows that use of slats and VGs is very useful in hilly areas of areas with dense population or trees around the airport which may hinder the glide path of the aircrafts.

Fig 27. Comparison of aircraft glide with and without VG Thus, in order to achieve better performance by the aircraft, it is important to use these devices together. Winglets and VGs enhance wing characteristics during mainly cruise and also
19

at lower velocities. Flaps and slats play an important role for enhancing performance at low speeds. This makes it possible to use the same wing for all flight phases. 4.2 Future Scope: For further study, the knowledge of boundary layer theory is essential to study vortex generators. Higher computational facilities, if available, will make it possible to run higher order simulations to achieve perfect results. Choice of flaps, slats and winglets and their optimization is a field of research in which work will be done in future. An effort for theoretical modeling of winglets in order to save time for preliminary winglet design.

References
[1] Michael Kroes, James Rardon, Michael Nolan, Aircraft Basic Science, Eighth Edition [2] Lauren P. McManus, A Preliminary Study of Three-Dimensional Turbulent Flow over Vortex Generators with a Plenoptic Camera,Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849 [3] Masaru Koike, Tsunehisa Nagayoshi, Naoki Hamamoto, Research on Aerodynamic Drag Reduction by Vortex Generators, Mitsubishi motors technical review 2004, no16 [4] Michael S. Selig and James J. Guglielmo, High-Lift Low Reynolds Number Airfoil Design, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 34, No. 1, January - February 1997 [5] Mark D. Maughmer, THE DESIGN OF WINGLETS FOR LOW-SPEED AIRCRAFT , The Pennsylvania State University,University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 [6] M. A Azlin, C.F Mat Taib, S. Kasolang and F.H Muhammad, CFD Analysis of Winglets at Low Subsonic Flow, Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2011 Volume I ,WCE 2011, July 6 - 8, 2011, London, U.K. [7]Jasdeep Singh, Conceptual Design of wing planform for an MAV inspired by inverse zimmerman with CFD analysis, International Conference of Intelligent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle 2013, Unpublished

20