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This question is not a duplicate ...

Would wing fences or chord wise corrugated tape increase the efficiency of a short span wing?

I understand that larger span wings have less % span wise flow.

Which begs the question..... at least conceptually, couldn't you just use end plates and multiple wing fences to reduce span wise flow?

or even better, use some sort of corrugated tape, with corrugations running chord wise, like the corrugated skin of a blue whale?

Fred
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    Induced drag cannot be reduced by forcing the boundary layer in a certain direction. Please do yourself a favor and use the search mechanism. This will lead you to a lot of answers which will help to clear the basics. With a better basic understanding you will see that this really is a dupe. – Peter Kämpf Aug 24 '19 at 12:53
  • Sure, but we're not talking about induced drag here at all. Spanwise flow would reduce lift, so any reduction in span wise flow, would increase lift and increase the efficiency of the wing, no? – Fred Aug 24 '19 at 13:30
  • No. You cannot trick physics. The flow outside of your corrugation would still flow where it likes: away from pressure, towards suction. Always. The corrugation would increase drag. On the old Junkers designs it added 20% friction drag. But they saved induced drag by making the aircraft lighter. I still think we are talking about induced drag, by the way. – Peter Kämpf Aug 24 '19 at 14:28
  • Well.... scrapping the corrugated wing idea, couldn't you use wing fences to reduce span wise flow? – Fred Aug 26 '19 at 01:43
  • Yes, you can. On swept wings that makes sense. Follow the link and learn how different that application is compared to what you have in mind. – Peter Kämpf Aug 26 '19 at 03:11

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