Date of Award

Spring 5-2014

Access Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Department

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair

Luis González Liñero

First Committee Member

Snorri Gudmundsson

Second Committee Member

Maj Mirmirani

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the possibility of retrofitting winglets to the Dassault Falcon 10 small size business jet using the vortex lattice method solver program SURFACES© by GreatOWL Publishing. The winglet geometric parameters investigated were the winglet span, cant angle, sweep and taper ratio in terms of their influence on drag, range, fuel burn, as well as wing root bending moments. The results of the research show that winglet span and cant angle offer the highest gains in terms of performance while taper ratio and sweep angle have a minor contribution. In general, all winglets provided an increase in aerodynamic efficiency, however, certain configurations result in wing root bending moments and weight increases that would make a retrofit option impractical.

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