Vexing Volant Vortices: How to Chart and Reduce Wingtip Vortices

Overview

Objectives/Goals To chart the vortices generated by different combinations of winglets and dihedral angles, and then determine the most effective configuration to minimize wingtip vortices. Methods/Materials With help, I designed and built a wind tunnel test rig based on my hypothesis that if smoke was introduced to visualize the airflow over wingtips, then spray paint could print the wingtip vortices generated. Five test wings of varying winglet tilting angles, but equal area and airfoil shape were crafted. Vortices generated by each wing, set on seven different dihedral angles were recorded using 6 second test runs. Results My test data showed that vortices were reduced with greater +ve winglet angles and smaller -ve winglet angles, while different dihedral angles caused no noticeable change in vortex size. Conclusions/Discussion I concluded that wingtip vortices could be reduced with winglets of greater upward tilting angles. I could also conclude that wingtip vortices could be recorded; and that the paint coverage reflected the size of the vortices.

Awards (1)

• Honorable Mention

Competition history

• CSEF 2010 Aerodynamics/ Hydrodynamics (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0119

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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