Boeing
3D Printed Wing Tip End Cap
Modern commercial aircraft wings often include winglets or rake tips to minimize wingtip vortices that cause drag. These tip designs have become very intricate and complex in order to achieve the maximum efficiency. These designs, in many cases, must be fabricated out of solid metal in order to achieve the required shape and stiffness with the limitations of traditional machining processes. This student team worked to design (with optimization for weight reduction and stiffness), print, and test a sub-scale lattice reinforced hollow wing tip end cap to replace a traditional machined wing tip, and provided Boeing with an evaluation of tier findings and recommendation for suitable lattice structure designs.
Faculty Adviser
Luna Yue Huang,
Assistant Teaching Professor,
Materials Science & Engineering
Eli Patten,
ME Capstone Director,
Mechanical Engineering
Richard Wiebe,
Associate Professor,
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Students
Jake Simeroth
Joseph Chen
Mohammad Asakreh
Takahiro Soeda
Talia Murphy
Zhaohan Pan