Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance

Inspired by the tip feathers of soaring birds, the device of tip sails was designed and installed on the wing to achieve drag reduction. The influences of design parameters including cant angles, toe angles and twist angles on aerodynamic characteristics of tip sails were investigated through 77 cas...

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Main Authors: Minghao Yang, Shu Li, Xiao Bian, Jiayang Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19942060.2024.2374976
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author Minghao Yang
Shu Li
Xiao Bian
Jiayang Liu
author_facet Minghao Yang
Shu Li
Xiao Bian
Jiayang Liu
author_sort Minghao Yang
collection DOAJ
description Inspired by the tip feathers of soaring birds, the device of tip sails was designed and installed on the wing to achieve drag reduction. The influences of design parameters including cant angles, toe angles and twist angles on aerodynamic characteristics of tip sails were investigated through 77 cases of 11 configurations at 7 different angles of attack. According to the results grouped, the optimal cant angles [Formula: see text] were determined. By adjusting the toe angles, drag reduction can be improved under different flight conditions. The decreasing twist angles can inhibit flow separation on sail surface. The optimal toe angles [Formula: see text] and twist angles [Formula: see text] resulted in the weakest flow separation. Ensuring that the twist angle of each sail is [Formula: see text] less than that of the corresponding toe angle can effectively inhibit flow separation on the sail surface. The tip sails can also split and weaken the wingtip vortex. In addition, in the validation of the numerical method, we also investigate the influence of numerical schemes and turbulence models on the results of wingtip vortex flow. In the cases with unstructured meshes, the third-order finite volume scheme had higher computational efficiency than the traditional second-order finite volume scheme in obtaining grid independent solutions, and the turbulence model with rotation correction can improve the calculation accuracy of the wingtip vortex flow. The results of this paper provide a valuable reference for the design of tip sails.
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institution OA Journals
issn 1994-2060
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publishDate 2024-12-01
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series Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics
spelling doaj-art-bbb88b05dfab4e68998e58d7a2efbef32025-08-20T01:55:08ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEngineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics1994-20601997-003X2024-12-0118110.1080/19942060.2024.2374976Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performanceMinghao Yang0Shu Li1Xiao Bian2Jiayang Liu3School of Aeronautics Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Aeronautics Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Aeronautics Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Aeronautics Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, People's Republic of ChinaInspired by the tip feathers of soaring birds, the device of tip sails was designed and installed on the wing to achieve drag reduction. The influences of design parameters including cant angles, toe angles and twist angles on aerodynamic characteristics of tip sails were investigated through 77 cases of 11 configurations at 7 different angles of attack. According to the results grouped, the optimal cant angles [Formula: see text] were determined. By adjusting the toe angles, drag reduction can be improved under different flight conditions. The decreasing twist angles can inhibit flow separation on sail surface. The optimal toe angles [Formula: see text] and twist angles [Formula: see text] resulted in the weakest flow separation. Ensuring that the twist angle of each sail is [Formula: see text] less than that of the corresponding toe angle can effectively inhibit flow separation on the sail surface. The tip sails can also split and weaken the wingtip vortex. In addition, in the validation of the numerical method, we also investigate the influence of numerical schemes and turbulence models on the results of wingtip vortex flow. In the cases with unstructured meshes, the third-order finite volume scheme had higher computational efficiency than the traditional second-order finite volume scheme in obtaining grid independent solutions, and the turbulence model with rotation correction can improve the calculation accuracy of the wingtip vortex flow. The results of this paper provide a valuable reference for the design of tip sails.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19942060.2024.2374976Tip sailcant angletoe angletwist angledrag reductionCFD
spellingShingle Minghao Yang
Shu Li
Xiao Bian
Jiayang Liu
Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics
Tip sail
cant angle
toe angle
twist angle
drag reduction
CFD
title Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
title_full Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
title_fullStr Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
title_full_unstemmed Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
title_short Numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
title_sort numerical investigation of angle parameters of tip sails for improvement of aircraft flight performance
topic Tip sail
cant angle
toe angle
twist angle
drag reduction
CFD
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19942060.2024.2374976
work_keys_str_mv AT minghaoyang numericalinvestigationofangleparametersoftipsailsforimprovementofaircraftflightperformance
AT shuli numericalinvestigationofangleparametersoftipsailsforimprovementofaircraftflightperformance
AT xiaobian numericalinvestigationofangleparametersoftipsailsforimprovementofaircraftflightperformance
AT jiayangliu numericalinvestigationofangleparametersoftipsailsforimprovementofaircraftflightperformance