An engineering demonstrator of the winglet active trailing edge (WATE) concept was manufactured by AS03 partners in SARISTU. In parallel, simulation activities were used to investigate the performance benefits of active winglets. A study made by AS03 partners (led by AGI-G) assessed the capacity of the WATE—with a suitably designed controller—to alleviate loads due to gust encounters, and this was used to estimate a structural mass saving of around 2 %. A separate study (performed by AGI-UK and ONERA) investigated the potential for an improvement of the lift-to-drag ratio for off-design conditions. This paper brings together the benefits of the structural mass reduction, and the lift-to-drag improvement, using a form of the well-known Breguet range equation to make estimates of the fuel that can be saved over a given mission. This has been combined with typical fleet operation statistics to estimate that the WATE concept (including the structural mass saving effects) could deliver a 1 % reduction in daily fuel costs for a representative airline fleet. For much of the analysis, simplifying assumptions and models have been used in order to meet the project time and cost objectives. Uncertainty in the precise level of benefit is a risk associated with further development of the WATE technology, but the activities in SARISTU AS03 have demonstrated the potential which makes the WATE concept interesting for further development.


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    Title :

    Evaluation of the Performance Benefits of the Winglet Active Trailing Edge in AS03



    Published in:

    Publication date :

    2015-09-05


    Size :

    13 pages




    Type of media :

    Article/Chapter (Book)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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