𝗔 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗧 𝗚𝗨𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗦

 

A SHORT GUIDE TO

WINGLETS

A winglet.

Have you ever wondered, while sitting in a plane, what those things on the tips of plane wings are? You might have noticed that they are not present in every plane.

Well, you have come to the right blog for this!

They are called Winglets.

To understand the use of winglets, we have to first see how a plane produces lift.

The shape of the cross section of a plane wing is called an Aerofoil.

The structure of a basic aerofoil

A basic aerofoil is shaped in such a way that it is curved on the top and pretty much flat on the bottom.

Let’s imagine an aerofoil moving through the air. The air on the bottom flows past.  Now, to cover the length of the chord of the aerofoil in the same time as the air blowing under the aerofoil, the air on top needs to flow much faster. This causes a lower-pressure region over the aerofoil and a higher-pressure region below the aerofoil. This causes an upward force to act on the wing, called lift.

Well, since we now have an overview on how a plane generates lift, let us understand drag.

Drag slows the plane down. It is the force acting opposite to lift. Also, drag reduces a plane’s efficiency. Less efficiency means more fuel, more fuel means more fuel costs, which aren’t economic for airlines. There are major types of drag acting on a plane, however, we must focus on a specific type for this blog: Lift-Induced Drag. In simple words, it is the drag that occurs as a byproduct of lift. One of the most affected areas of lift-induced drag are the wingtips. This happens when air from the high-pressure region near the wingtips moves to the lower pressure region, creating vortices known as Wingtip vortices.

Since they cause drag and reduce efficiency, winglets are used to reduce the effects of wingtip vortices. Winglets work by creating a forward lift component, thus reducing the drag from wingtip vortices. Winglets are the most useful during takeoff, landing and high-altitude cruise, when the angle of attack of the plane is high. 

The above image clearly shows how much winglets reduce the drag generated from wingtip vortices, thus increasing efficiency.

Most modern planes have winglets, such as the Airbus A340 and Boeing 747-400 have winglets, while some others such as the Boeing 737-400 have no winglets.

Shown above is an Airbus A340.

We can see the effects a winglet has on reducing the drag generated by wingtip  vortices.