WAKE VORTEX TRANSPORT IN PROXIMITY TO THE GROUND.pdfVIP

WAKE VORTEX TRANSPORT IN PROXIMITY TO THE GROUND David W. Hamilton and Fred H. Proctor NASA Langley Research Center Mail Stop 156A Hampton, Virginia 23681-2199 19 th Digital Avionics Systems Conference 7-13 October 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AIAA and IEEE 1 WAKE VORTEX TRANSPORT IN PROXIMITY TO THE GROUND David W. Hamilton 1 and Fred Proctor 2 NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 1 Research Scientist, Airborne Systems Competency 2 Research Scientist, Airborne Systems Competency, AIAA member Abstract A sensitivity study for aircraft wake vortex transport has been conducted using a validated large eddy simulation (LES) model. The study assumes neutrally stratified and nonturbulent environments and includes the consequences of the ground. The numerical results show that the nondimensional lateral transport is primarily influenced by the magnitude of the ambient crosswind and is insensitive to aircraft type. In most of the simulations, the ground effect extends the lateral position of the downwind vortex about one initial vortex spacing (bo) in the downstream direction. Further extension by as much as one bo occurs when the downwind vortex remains “in ground effect” (IGE) for relatively long periods of time. Results also show that a layer-averaged ambient wind velocity can be used to bound the time for lateral transport of wake vortices to insure safe operations on a parallel runway. Nomenclature bo initial vortex separation L lateral distance traveled by the downwind vortex T nondimensional time; tVo / bo t time t? time step U crosswind component of velocity Umax ambient crosswind velocity at elevations ztop and above eU layer-averaged ambient crosswind velocity Ue ambient crosswind velocity Vo initial vortex descent velocity; Γο /  ? bo ) yo initial vortex lateral position