Assessment of the efficiency of an active winglet concept for a long-range aircraft

This paper presents the analysis of an active winglet concept applied to a long-range aircraft. The winglet is actuated along the longitudinal axis to control its cant angle. Due to aeroelastic effects, the wing twist changes and therefore impacts aircraft performance. As a consequence, this technology offers the opportunity to optimize aircraft performance throughout the flight. This ability will be evaluated using high-fidelity coupled aerodynamic and structural computations. The consideration of the wing flexibility and the impact of the winglet on the wing shape contributes to more accurate aerodynamic predictions. First, the winglet geometry is optimized for the cruise condition using surrogate models. The designed winglet reduces the drag with a limited impact on loads while ensuring the capability to change the wing tip twist through the control of the cant angle. Then, a mission analysis is performed to assess the benefits of the technology on a variety of flight conditions.

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