Trip device for enhancing performance and handling qualities of an aircraft

A method of manufacturing a wing comprising:

• along a chordwise direction of an airfoil surface of the wing, predicting a plurality of target transition locations under a plurality of design conditions including a plurality of cruise conditions without a trip device, wherein each target transition location is a location where airflow transitions from a laminar boundary layer to a turbulent boundary layer;
• identifying a most-downstream target transition location from the plurality of target transition locations, so as to limit downstream movement of transitions from a laminar boundary layer to a turbulent boundary layer under non-cruise conditions;
• and
• incorporating a trip device along a spanwise direction of the wing at a position that is just aft of the most-downstream target transition location to enable turbulent flow, wherein the trip device extends spanwise along an upper surface of the wing.

An aircraft wing comprising:

• a trip device along a span of the wing to enable turbulent flow, wherein a trip device extends spanwise along an upper surface of the wing at a position that is just aft of a most downstream position for transitioning from a laminar to turbulent flow under a plurality of cruise conditions without the trip device,
• wherein the trip device's position prevents downstream movement of the transition from laminar flow to turbulent flow, and
• wherein the trip device's position is determined by:
• predicting a plurality of target transition locations under a plurality of design conditions including the plurality of cruise conditions without the trip device, wherein each target transition location is a location where airflow transitions from a laminar boundary layer to a turbulent boundary layer, and
• identifying the most downstream target transition location from the plurality of target transition locations as the position of the trip device, so as to limit downstream movement of transitions from a laminar boundary layer to a turbulent boundary layer under non-cruise conditions.