Structural Design of a Business Jet Winglet

Structural sizing of a winglet for the Falcon 10 was performed and is presented here. The aerodynamic profile of the winglet was taken from a previous study, which predicted an increase in range of 3.3% with an estimated weight increase of 52 kg. An investigation of the current structure layouts and materials used in the industry was conducted. Six loading cases were analyzed to identify the most critical for the winglet, found to be negative and positive sideslip and gust. A finite element model was developed and used to size the structure. A fabrication process and assembly is described and the weight was estimated to be 22.5 kg which is less than the estimated weight. Thus the performance of the aircraft will be increased