Experimental Investigation of Bistable Winglets to Enhance Aircraft Wing Lift Takeoff Capability

An experimental investigation into the use of a bistable winglet to enhance the lift characteristics of a wing transitioning from lower to higher subsonic flow speeds is presented in this paper. The concept centers around the use of a specifically designed composite winglet, manufactured with an unsymmetric layup, which, when increasingly loaded, snaps between two stable states. Initially, during low-speed operation, the winglet is fixed in one stable state that is specifically designed to be cambered, thus enhancing the lift capability of the wing. At higher dynamic pressures, the winglet snaps to a configuration more intuitive and conventional to current winglet design. Results presented in this paper show the concept to be viable at enhancing the lift produced by a swept wing as aerodynamic loading increases before snap-through. During snap-through, however, the absence of any method of controlling the snap-through process generated significant dynamic loading that was transmitted, unhindered, throughout the entire test rig.

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