Quote:
Originally Posted by Sven7
I thought some wing designs were supposed to mitigate those vortexes. For instance, Airbuses' upturned wing tips.
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Yep. Aerodynamically speaking, a winglet reduces the pressure equalizing that normally occurs at an aircraft wingtip. As you know, a typical aircraft wing has higher air pressure on the bottom and lower air pressure on the top. Since air seeks to equalize pressure, the higher pressure air on a typical wing rolls around the wingtip to meet up with the lower pressure air...and we get a vortex. A winglet reduces this pressure movement (and hence the corresponding loss of lift) and increases a wing's effectiveness. So, engineers could shorten the wings a bit if they chose, or could increase the aircraft's load with winglets installed.
The Boeing C-17 has them also:
NASA - NASA Contributions to the C-17 Globemaster III
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/p...04-15-DFRC.pdf