Interaction of heavy aircraft wakes

Abstract

In the next few years the problem of heavy aircraft wakes may increase on the account of continuous air transport growth. However, it can be noticed that even today the number of accidents resulting from an interaction with wakes is increasing. That is the reason why methods of wake vortex description should be searched for. The aim of this study is to analyze interaction of example aircraft wakes. In this paper the characteristics of vortex wake behind three-dimensional wing are presented. It shows how a separation between aircraft affects the decay of vortex. Two- and three-dimensional calculations were performed using commercial RaNS code. The following cases have been taken into consideration: flow past a full commercial aircraft, three-dimensional flow over the simplified wing and a two-dimensional analysis of vortex decay caused by the landing aircraft, including the separation effect. For all these cases a CFd simulation of the aircraft wakes was conducted. One of the main outcome of this work is a confirmation that the interaction between wakes consists of spreading out and lifting wakes. The achieved results show that the two-dimensional simulation is a sufficient tool for a preliminary analysis of wake vortices. Conclusions from this analysis can be used by the managements of busy international airports to enhance safety.