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How does it do it?

The working principle of the winggrid can be summarized in three elements:

• The circulation is taken over by the winggrid along the chord of the main wing.

• The segmented circulation is transferred to the end of the winggrid, increasing the far field vortex spacing.

• The lift distribution on several winglets results in a reduction of the far field vortex energy.

This formulation is based on the work of Spreiter & Sacks, that identifies the vortex spacing and vortex energy in the far field as the two only parameters for measuring induced drag of a wing configuration. See also the 1996 ICAS paper.

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Updated: 12 March, 2004