Aircraft designers have tried many ways to either harness the energy of the rotating air, or reduce the strength of the vortical motion, thereby reducing the energy loss. One of the most common ways of doing this is to add a small wing, known as a winglet, to the wingtip.

The design of these winglets involves a trade-off between the benefits of lower induced drag (i.e the drag associated with the wingtip vortices) and the disadvantages of increased overall weight as well as an increase in other forms of drag.

In this white paper, you'll read how optimization-based winglet designed with modeFRONTIER leads to significant improvements in aircraft fuel efficiency, range, stability, and even control and handling.