QUESTION:
I'm a aircraft systems ground instructor for
an airline operating DC-9 & MD-80 
aircraft.  Can you suggest a text book, 
paper, or other information
source about function of vortilons?

ANSWER from Jeff Samuels  on March 20, 1998:
Off hand, I cannot refer you to vortilon 
information.  You might try these URLs, 
they may lead you to NASA reports on the 
subject.  

http://nasalib.arc.nasa.gov/

http://nix.nasa.gov/

http://nasagalaxie.larc.nasa.gov/

http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/NTRS 

http://www.batnet.com/dai/DAIcatalog.html

ANSWER from Steve Smith on March 23, 1998:
Yes, I can suggest 3 sources...

1. The definative discussion is in AIAA paper 
no. 65-738, "Aerodynamic Design Features 
of the DC-9," by Richard Shevell and 
Richard Schaufele, Nov. 1965

You may not be aware, Dick Shevell is 
generally regarded as the father of the DC-9 
and DC-10.  Sometime after the DC-10 was 
finished, he came up to Stanford for a 
temporary guest teaching position. He liked it
so much he stayed, and had a second career 
teaching graduate students, including me, a
great deal about airplane design.  I was 
honored to have Dick Shevell serve on my 
reading committee and my oral examination
committee for my PhD at Stanford.  He is a
warm and gentle man, great wit.

2.  I presented some wind tunnel data and 
discussion on the effects of vortilons in a 
technical report I wrote on Joined Wings. 
Look for NASA TM 101083, "Experimental 
Aerodynamic Characteristics of a 
Joined-Wing Research Aircraft Configuration,"
 by Stephen C. Smith, April, 1989.

3.  Textbook,  "Fundamentals of Flight," by 
Richard Shevell.  Presents a brief summary 
of the same results that are described in his
 AIAA paper.

Vortilons have also been used on Gulfstream, 
Learjet -45 , and many homebuilts, such as 
Long-eze, and the Swift footlaunched 
sailplane.

There is not much published about the 
fluid-mechanics of vortilons.