A NEW METHOD FOR IMPROVING AIRCRAFT LANDING PERFORMANCE

A new aerodynamic method is presented. The main principle is to design a movable part on the upper surface of the wing of an aircraft. When the aircraft access to the relatively larger angle of attack in the period of landing, a step can be formed by appropriately raising the downstream tip of the movable part, thus a stable trapped vortex is generated to control the flow above the upper surface of the wing. At the same time, the Gurney flap installed at the trailing-edge of the wing is operated. Both effects of enlarging the lift and the stall angle of attack will be achieved. The method will be very useful for small aircrafts or UAV configuration in improving their landing behavior. By the numerical simulation of given aircraft configuration, it is shown that the airfoil’s maximum usable lift coefficient can be increased by 33%, and the stall angle of attack can be increased by 30%. It is believed to be a promising method to improve aircraft landing performance for the small aircrafts.