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Project Summary

Difficulty	5  –  7
Time required	Short (several days)
Prerequisites	None
Material Availability	Readily available
Cost	Very Low (under $20)
Safety	No issues

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Sponsor

Sponsored by a generous grant from Northrop Grumman Foundation

Weightless Flights of Discovery Program for Teachers

www.northropgrumman.com/ community/weightless.html

Abstract

Objective

The goal of this project is to measure the effects on flight performance when winglets are added to a paper airplane design.

Introduction

The Boeing jet in the picture at right has winglets at the tips of its wings. Why are they there? What do they do?

As an airplane moves through the air, the wings generate lift by creating an area of low pressure above the upper surface of the wing. The higher air pressure beneath the lower surface of the wing lifts the plane. At the tip of the wing, the high and low pressure air meet.

Figure 1. The diagram shows the expanding wing tip vortices generated by a passenger jet. (NASAexplores.com, date unknown)

The air forms miniature tornadoes, called wing tip vortices that spread out behind the plane (see Figure 1, right). Wing tip vortices cause two problems:

1. the turbulent airflow they create can be strong enough to flip an airplane that encounters it;
2. they also increase the drag forces on the airplane that generates them, decreasing fuel efficiency.

In this project, you will test paper airplanes built both with and without winglets and measure the effect on flight performance. When doing your background research, you should also study vertical stabilizers. In the simple designs used in this project, winglets will also function as vertical stabilizers.

Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

• fuselage,
• airfoil,
• winglets,
• vertical stabilizer,
• horizontal stabilizer,
• drag,
• lift,
• center of lift,
• center of gravity,
• wing tip vortices.

Questions

• What are the three forces acting on a glider in flight?
• What relationship between these forces is needed for stable flight?
• How will the addition of winglets affect these forces?
• How will the addition of winglets affect flight performance?

Bibliography

• You'll definitely want to check out the Gliders section (among others) of NASA's Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics. This site is packed with useful information on the science of flight:
  NASA, 2005a. "Guided Tours of the Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics," NASA, Glenn Research Center [accessed June 8, 2006] http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/guided.htm.
• Here are two links with alternative designs for folded paper airplanes. The second link (Palmer, 2000) has an excellent plan (PL-1, "Joe's Favorite") for testing with and without winglets:
  
  • NASA, 2005b. "Folding Paper Airplane: How To Build a JET Model," NASA Glenn Research Center [accessed June 8, 2006] http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/WindTunnel/Activities/foldairplane.html.
  • Palmer, J., 2000. "Joseph Palmer's Paper Airplanes," [accessed June 15, 2006] http://www.josephpalmer.com/planes/Airplane.shtml.
• Here are some sources of information on winglets:
  
  • NASAexplores, 2002. "Taming Twin Tornadoes," NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate, NASAexplores.com [accessed June 8, 2006] http://www.nasaexplores.com/show2_articlea.php?id=02-025.
  • Larson, G.C., 2001. "How Things Work: Winglets," originally published in Air & Space/Smithsonian, Aug/Sep 2001, available online: http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Mag/Index/2001/AS/htww.html.

Materials and Equipment

To do this experiment you will need the following materials and equipment:

• paper for making airplanes,
• tape measure to measure flight distance,
• an indoor location with open space to test-fly the planes.
• Optional: stop watch to measure flight time.

Experimental Procedure

1. Do your background research so that you are knowledgeable about the terms, concepts, and questions above.
2. Start with your favorite paper airplane design. Figure 2, below, shows one popular model (see the first suggestion in the Variations section, below, for ideas on optimizing the design). This NASA link has another design you can try: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/WindTunnel/Activities/foldairplane.html.

   Figure 2. The simple, classic folded paper airplane.

3. Using your chosen design, build several identical paper planes.
4. Test-fly each plane at least 5 times, and measure the distance flown. Be careful to launch the planes at the same angle, and with the same amount of force each time. Note any instabilities in the flight characteristics (nose dives, rolling, turning). Optional: you can also use a stop watch to measure the flight duration. Keep track of the data in your lab notebook.
5. Fold a small portion of each wing tip up to create equal-sized winglets on each wing, and repeat the test flights.
6. Calculate the average flight distance for each plane, both with and without winglets.
7. Did flight distance improve with winglets? Were there improvements in other flight characteristics?

Variations

• Experiment with the design of the simple folded airplane to optimize the flight characteristics before trying winglets. For example, you can shorten the plane by folding back a portion of the nose before folding up the wings (step 3 in Figure 2, above). (What effect does this have on the center of gravity? What effect does this have on the center of lift?) You can alter the surface area of the wings slightly by experimenting with exactly where to place the fold in step 4 of Figure 2. Test your designs with multiple flight tests and keep track of the results in your lab notebook. Then use your best design to see if winglets improve performance even further.
• Experiment to find the optimal size for winglets.
• Does it matter if you fold the winglets down or up?
• The simple folded airplanes used in this project normally lack vertical stabilizers. Vertical stabilizers resist forces that would tend to make the plane yaw (nose moving from side to side). In this simple type of paper airplane, winglets can function as vertical stabilizers. Another type of paper airplane (made with laminated construction methods) generally does include a vertical stabilizer as part of the design. For more details, see the Science Buddies project What Makes a Good Aerodynamic Design? Test Your Ideas with High-Performance Paper Gliders. Do winglets improve the flight characteristics of high-performance paper gliders?
• For a more advanced project on winglets using a wind tunnel, see the Science Buddies project Winglets in Wind Tunnels.

• For more science project ideas in this area of science, see Aerodynamics & Hydrodynamics Project Ideas.

Credits

Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies

Sources

• NASAexplores.com, date unknown. "Paper Winglets," NASAexplores.com http://www.nasaexplorers.com/show_912_student_st.php?id=021220132352.

Last edit date: 2006-06-16 22:00:00

Career Focus

If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring careers in Aerodynamics & Hydrodynamics.

	Aerospace Engineer Humans have always longed to fly and to make other things fly, both through the air and into outer space—aerospace engineers are the people that make those dreams come true. They design, build, and test vehicles like airplanes, helicopters, balloons, rockets, missiles, satellites, and spacecraft.			Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technician Aerospace engineering and operations technicians are essential to the development of new aircraft and space vehicles. They build, test, and maintain parts for air and spacecraft, and assemble, test, and maintain the vehicles as well. They are key members of a flight readiness team, preparing space vehicles for launch in clean rooms, and on the launch pad. They also help troubleshoot launch or flight failures by testing suspect parts.
	Pilot Pilots fly airplanes, helicopters, and other aircraft to accomplish a variety of tasks. While the primary job of most pilots is to fly people and cargo from place to place, 20 percent of all pilots have more specialized jobs, like dropping fire retardant, seeds, or pesticides from the air, or helping law enforcement rescue and transport accident victims, and capture criminals. Pilots enjoy working and helping people in the “third dimension."			Aviation Inspector Aviation inspectors are critical to ensuring that aircraft are safe to fly. They conduct pre-flight inspections to make sure an aircraft is safe. They also inspect the work of aircraft mechanics, and keep detailed records of work done to maintain or repair an aircraft. As problems are identified, they may make changes to maintenance schedules, and may be called upon to investigate air accidents.
	Marine Architect Water covers more than 70 percent of Earth's surface, and marine architects design vessels that allow humans and their cargo to cross through or under those waters safely and efficiently. Some of their watercraft designs are enormous, like merchant ships, which carry huge loads of oil, cars, food, clothing, toys, and other goods, across thousands of miles of open waters. These ships are essential for trade between countries. Other vessels are smaller and more specialized, like luxury yachts or cruise liners. Still others are designed for military purposes.

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