Wake vortex investigations of transport aircraft

Abstract A real-time model of a wake vortex has been developed for an engineering flight simulator, which enables studies to be undertaken into the effects of wake vortex encounters with civil transport aircraft. A brief summary of the methods used to create a vortex model and integrate it with a real-time flight simulator is presented. Tools have been developed to determine the structural loads on an aircraft during a simulated wake vortex encounter and to visualise the airframe loads. Four wake vortex encounters were flown with different pilot recovery strategies and automatic flight controls. It is clear from analysis of these results that it is difficult for a pilot to appreciate the margin of tail loading during an encounter and a prototype training display is outlined to enable pilots to fully understand the effects of rudder inputs in recovery from these events.

Download Full-text

An analysis of relative wake-vortex hazards for typical transport aircraft

10.2514/6.1994-810 ◽

1994 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Robert Stuever ◽

George Greene

Keyword(s):

Wake Vortex ◽

Transport Aircraft

Download Full-text

On wake vortex response for all combinations of five classes of aircraft

The Aeronautical Journal ◽

10.1017/s0001924000000154 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 108 (1084) ◽

pp. 295-310 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

L. M. B. C. Campos ◽

J. M. G. Marques

Keyword(s):

Wake Vortex ◽

Dimensionless Form ◽

Bank Angle ◽

Rolling Moment ◽

Tip Vortices ◽

Transport Aircraft ◽

Roll Rate ◽

Wing Tip ◽

Special Case ◽

Light Medium

Abstract The present paper concerns the response of a following airplane to a pair of wing tip vortices left by a leading aircraft, represented by the Hallock-Burnham model, including the effect of vorticity decay between the two aircraft. The effect of vorticity is evaluated in terms of the induced rolling moment and also the lift loss; these specify the roll acceleration and the downward acceleration, respectively. The corresponding two response equations can be put into the same dimensionless form, and integrated using exponential integrals. This specifies the roll rate and sink rate as a function of time; besides the latter, the bank angle and altitude loss, are also plotted, all also as a function of time, for all combinations of leading and following aircraft in five classes. These are the three ICAO weight categories of light, medium and heavy, plus two other cases, viz the special case of the Boeing 757, which requires larger separations distances, and the case of a future very large transport aircraft (VLTA) exceeding significantly the size of a Boeing 747.

Download Full-text