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. / Master of Science
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/33519 |
| Date | 20 June 2002 |
| Creators | Intaratep, Nanyaporn |
| Contributors | Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Marchman, James F. III, Devenport, William J., Schetz, Joseph A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | etd.pdf |
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