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Vortex flows of interest to aerodynamicists cover a wide range of scales from a fraction of an inch in boundary layer flows to many feet in wake flows. In many applications these flows are poorly understood and, due to their complexity, present a challenge both analytically and experimentally. Four topics representing the spectrum of experimental and analytical vortex research are presented.
A Government and Industry workshop on wake vortex dynamic spacing systems was conducted on May 13-15, 1997, at the NASA Langley Research Center. The purpose of the workshop was to disclose the status of ongoing NASA wake vortex R&D to the international community and to seek feedback on the direction of future work to assure an optimized research approach. Workshop sessions examined wake vortex characterization and physics, wake sensor technologies, aircraft/wake encounters, terminal area weather characterization and prediction, and wake vortex systems integration and implementation. A final workshop session surveyed the Government and Industry perspectives on the NASA research underway and related international wake vortex activities. This document contains the proceedings of the workshop including the presenters' slides, the discussion following each presentation, the wrap-up panel discussion, and the attendees' evaluation feedback.
Analytical results are presented on the effect of acoustic radiation on three-dimensional vortex motions in a homogeneous, slightly compressible, inviscid fluid. The flow is considered as linear and irrotational everywhere except inside a very thin cylindrical core region around the vortex filament. In the outside region, a velocity potential is introduced that must be multivalued, and it is shown how to compute this scalar potential if the motion of the vortex filament is prescribed. To find the motion of this singularity in an external potential flow, a variational principle involving a volume integral that must exclude the singular region is considered. A functional of the external potential and vortex filament position is obtained whose extrema give equations to determine the sought-after evolution. Thus, a generalization of the Biot-Savart law to flows with constant sound speed at low Mach number is obtained.
The leading edge flow structure was investigated on a 70 deg flat plate delta wing which was pitched about its 1/2 chord position, to increase understanding of the high angle of attack aerodynamics on an unsteady delta wing. The wing was sinusoidally pitched at reduced frequencies ranging from k being identical with 2pi fc/u = 0.05 to 0.30 at chord Reynolds numbers between 90,000 and 350,000, for angle of attack ranges of alpha = 29 to 39 deg and alpha = 0 to 45 deg. The wing was also impulsively pitched at an approximate rate of 0.7 rad/s. During these dynamic motions, visualization of the leading edge vorticies was obtained by entraining titanium tetrachloride into the flow at the model apex. The location of vortex breakdown was recorded using 16mm high speed motion picture photography. When the wing was sinusoidally pitched, a hysteresis was observed in the location of breakdown position. This hysteresis increased with reduced frequency. The velocity of breakdown propagation along the wing, and the phase lag between model motion and breakdown location were also determined. When the wing was impulsively pitched, several convective times were required for the vortex flow to reach a steady state. Detailed information was also obtained on the oscillation of breakdown position in both static and dynamic cases.
A discussion of some solutions and outstanding problems of dissipationless and nearly dissipationless flows in two and three dimensions is presented. In particular, two-dimensional steady-state solutions, linear stability and nonlinear evolutions including axisymmetrization of isolated vortex regions and merger or condensation of like-signed vorticity regions, are reviewed. These results are obtained from pseudo-spectral codes, contour dynamical (CD) codes and a new Hamiltonian moment-model of the Euler equations
Recent work with high resolution, one-layer numerical models of fluid flows resembling those in the real stratosphere has suggested that: (1) the interiors of strong cyclonic vortices like the Antarctic polar vortex may be almost completely isolated laterally from their surroundings - perhaps even completely isolated, under some circumstances; (2) by contrast, material near the edge of such and isolated region can easily be eroded (or mixed one-sidedly) into the surrounding region; and (3) the erosion characteristically produces extremely steep gradients in isentropic distributions of potential vorticity (PV) and of other tracers, possibly down to horizontal length scales of a few kilometers only. Such length scales may occur both at the edge of the main polar vortex and in smaller features outside it, such as thin filamentary structures, produced by the erosion process.
A study of the dynamic behavior of the leading edge vortices on a delta wing undergoing oscillatory pitching motion is presented. A sharp edge, flat plate, delta wing having a sweep angle of 70 deg was used in this investigation. The wing was sinusoidally pitched about its 1/2 chord position at reduced frequencies ranging from k = 2(pi)fc/u = 0.05 to 0.30 at chord Reynolds numbers between 90,000 and 350,000, for angle of attack ranges of 29 to 39 deg and 0 to 45 deg. During these dynamic motions, visualization of the leading edge vortices was obtained by marking the vortices with TiCl4 introduced through ports located near the model apex. The location of vortex breakdown was recorded using high speed motion picture photography. The motion picture records were analyzed to determine vortex trajectory and breakdown position as a function of angle of attack. When the wing was sinusoidally pitched, a hysteresis was observed in the location of breakdown position. This hysteresis increased with reduced frequency. The velocity of breakdown propagation along the wing, and the phase lag between model motion and breakdown location were also determined. Detailed information was also obtained on the oscillation of breakdown position in both static and dynamic cases.
We have recovered vertical profiles of stratospheric N2O from spectra observed using a ground-based mm-wave spectrometer during the Arctic spring. The measurements were made from Thule, Greenland (76.3 deg N, 68.4 deg W) on nine occasions from late February to late March, 1992 as part of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Correlative Measurements Program and the European Arctic Stratospheric Ozone Experiment (EASOE). During late February Thule was under inside edge of the Arctic vortex and mixing ratio profiles measured in that period are substantially reduced from typical high-latitude summer values. By late March the polar vortex had moved well away from Thule and N2O mixing ratios were greatly increased, coinciding with a basic change in circulation that brought in air from the Aleutian high. The motion of the vortex is also illustrated in the change in potential vorticity above Thule. A correlation with ozone balloonsonde data from Thule is made and compared to similar analyses of the Airborne Arctic Stratospheric Expedition (AASE) measurements. Within the sensitivity of our analysis, the correlation of N2O and O3 shows no evidence of ozone depletion within the vortex during this period; however, there is a distinct difference in the correlation inside and outside the vortex.
The goal of the present work is to investigate how the dynamics of the vortical flow about the flap side edge of an aircraft determine the acoustic radiation. A validated lattice- Boltzmann CFD solution of the unsteady flow about a detailed business jet configuration in approach conditions is used for the present analysis. Evidence of the connection between the noise generated by several segments of the inboard flap tip and the aerodynamic forces acting on the same segments is given, proving that the noise generation mechanism has a spatially coherent and acoustically compact character on the scale of the flap chord, and that the edge-scattering effects are of secondary importance. Subsequently, evidence of the connection between the kinematics of the tip vortex system and the aerodynamic force is provided. The kinematics of the dual vortex system are investigated via a core detection technique. Emphasis is placed on the mutual induction effects between the two main vortices rolling up from the pressure and suction sides of the flap edge. A simple heuristic formula that relates the far-field noise spectrum and the cross-spectrum of the unsteady vortical positions is developed.
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Trace gases measured by the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) instrument during the Mar/Apr 1992(AT-1), Apr 1993(AT-2), and Nov 1994(AT-3) space-shuttle missions have been mapped into equivalent latitude/potential temperature (EqL/0) coordinates.
A concept is presented for the development and implementation of a prototype Aircraft Vortex Spacing System (AVOSS). The purpose of the AVOSS is to use current and short-term predictions of the atmospheric state in approach and departure corridors to provide, to ATC facilities, dynamical weather dependent separation criteria with adequate stability and lead time for use in establishing arrival scheduling. The AVOSS will accomplish this task through a combination of wake vortex transport and decay predictions, weather state knowledge, defined aircraft operational procedures and corridors, and wake vortex safety sensors. Work is currently underway to address the critical disciplines and knowledge needs so as to implement and demonstrate a prototype AVOSS in the 1999/2000 time frame.
The nonlinear evolution of periodic disturbances on vortex trails is considered. In addition to following small initial perturbations, large amplitude initial disturbances of the vortex trails are also studied. It is shown that the equations support a rich variety of essentially nonlinear solutions including unbounded and quasisteady ones. These solutions are found to correspond to various modes of vortex clustering in the physical plane. At the close of the paper, comparisons of these results with recent numerical and experimental findings on the wakes behind stationary cylinders, and also transversely oscillating bluff objects, are made.
Dynamical fields form the UK Meteorological office global forecast model were used throughout the 1987 Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE) for flight planning and diagnostic studies. Here, several studies based on the Meteorological Office global analysis (resolution 1.5 degrees lattitude x 1.875 degrees longitude, Lyne et al.) are described. The wind and temperature data derived from the model analysis are compared with observations made from both the DCB and ER-2, and an assessment of the model performance given. Derived quantities such as potential vorticity and model data and discrepancies due to the model data are discussed.
An initial value approach is used to examine the dynamics of perturbations introduced into a vortex under strain. Both the basic vortex considered and the perturbations are taken as fully three-dimensional. An explicit solution for the time evolution of the vorticity perturbations is given for arbitrary initial vorticity. Analytical solutions for the resulting velocity components are found when the initial vorticity is assumed to be localized. For more general initial vorticity distributions, the velocity components are determined numerically. It is found that the variation in the radial direction of the initial vorticity disturbance is the most important factor influencing the qualitative behavior of the solutions. Transient growth in the magnitude of the velocity components is found to be directly attributable to the compactness of the initial vorticity.
Kinematic theory and flow visualization experiments were combined to examine the dynamic processes which control the evolution of vortex rings from very low to very high Reynolds numbers, and to assess the effects of the wall as a vortex ring travels up a tube. The kinematic relationships among the size, shape, speed, and strength of vortex rings in a tube were computed from the theory. Relatively simple flow visualization measurements were used to calculate the total circulation of a vortex rings at a given time. Using this method, the strength was computated and plotted as a function of time for experimentally produced vortex rings. Reynolds number relationships are established and quantitative differences among the three Reynolds number groups are discussed.
During this grant, covering the period from September 1998 to December 2001, we continued the investigation of the role of turbulent mixing in the wake of subsonic aircraft initiated in 1994 for NASA's Atmospheric Effects of Aviation Project. The goal of the research has been to provide sufficient understanding and quantitative analytical capability to assess the dynamical, chemical, and microphysical interactions in the near-field wake that have the greatest potential to influence the global atmospheric impact of the projected fleet of subsonic aircraft. Through large-eddy simulations we have shown that turbulence in the early wake dynamics can have a strong effect on both the ice microphysics of contrail evolution and on wake chemistry. The wake vortex dynamics are the primary determinant of the vertical extent of the contrail; this together with the local wind shear largely determines the horizontal extent. The fraction of the initial ice crystals surviving the wake vortex dynamics, their spatial distribution, and the ice mass distribution are all sensitive to the aircraft type, assumed initial ice crystal number, and ambient humidity and turbulence conditions. Our model indicates that there is a significant range of conditions for which a smaller aircraft such as a B737 produces as significant a persistent contrail as a larger aircraft such as a B747, even though the latter consumes almost five times as much fuel. Large-eddy simulations of the near wake of a B757 provided a fine-grained chemical-dynamical representation of simplified NOx - HOx chemistry in wakes of ages from a few seconds to several minutes. By sampling the simulated data in a manner similar to that of in situ aircraft measurements it was possible to provide a likely explanation for a puzzle uncovered in the 1996 SUCCESS flight measurements of OH and HO2 The results illustrate the importance of considering fluid dynamics effects in interpreting chemistry results when mixing rates and species fluctuations are large, and demonstrate the feasibility of using 3D unsteady LES with coupled chemistry to study such phenomena.