On Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 9:23:56 PM UTC-6, Dan Daly wrote:
On Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 10:12:12 PM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
Not being an aerodynamicist, I was wondering if winglets decreased ground effect. So would an ASW-20 (without winglets) be able to glide further in ground effect than an ASW-20 (with winglets), all else being equal?

I googled it and this website answers the question https://www.quora.com/Do-aircrafts-w...-ground-effect . Not about the ASW-20 specifically.

It is on the internet, and therefore, must be true.

There may be lesser benefit from winglets, but you started with more performance, so the end result is likely that you will still have more performance with your winglets in ground effect than without your winglets in ground effect. Assuming your winglets actually boosted your performance. Personally, I don't believe it is entirely proportional to tip vortex strength, but has a lot more to do with downwash field strength. Short spans with big chords get a larger benefit from ground effect than long spans with narrow chords. Just my opinion.


Steve Leonard