Induced drag - Historical perspective

Induced drag is associated with the shedding of vorticity along the span of a finite wing, especially its tip region; for most subsonic aircraft configurations, induced drag constitutes about 50 percent of total aircraft drag throughout the flight envelope. NASA and the U.S. aircraft industry have aggressively studied induced-drag reduction methods. The state-of-the-art CTOL commercial aircraft wing is as a result of these efforts virtually optimal, with a total induced drag lying within a percent of the theoretical minimum. Many of the devices currently under study for induced drag reduction are added to wingtips, yielding benefits through their effects on the wake vortex as well as through forces generated in the flowfield.