Analysis of Longitudinal Aerodynamic Characteristics of an 

Aircraft Model with and Without Winglet 

Altab Hossain a

*, Prithvi Raj Arora b

, Ataur Rahman c

, Abdul Aziz Jaafar b

, 

A.K.M. Parvez Iqbal a

a Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Industry Selangor, Jln Timur Tambahan, 45600 Batang Berjuntai, 

Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia b Department of Aerospace Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia c Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia

Abstract 

This paper describes the influences of two pair of elliptical and circular shaped winglets with the wing of the aircraft model 

for the reduction of induced drag without increasing the span of the aircraft. Aerodynamic characteristics for the model 

aircraft wing with NACA section No. 65-3-218 with and without elliptical and circular winglets have been studied using a 

subsonic wind tunnel of 1m × 1m rectangular test section. Lift and drag measurements are carried out using a six component 

external balance. Tests are carried out on the aircraft model with and without winglet at the Reynolds numbers 0.17×106

, 

0.21×106

 and 0.25×106

. The experimental results show that lift curve slope increases by 1-6% with the addition of certain 

winglet configurations and at the same time, the drag decreases by 20-28% as compared to the aircraft model with and 

without winglet for the maximum Reynolds number considered in the present study. The experimental approach and a 

summary of the main findings are presented.