11th National Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, 2-5 Sept.

2009, Borovets, Bulgaria

MODELING OF WAKE VORTEX EVOLUTION *

L.I. TURCHAK Russian Academy of Sciences Dorodnicyn Computing Centre Vavilov Str. 40, Moscow, 119333, Russia
e-mail: turchak@ccas.ru

ABSTRACT. The objective is the detailed study of generation and evolution of wake vortices past aircraft by means of mathematical modeling methods and revelation of impact of different conditions on intensity, evolution and lifetime of wake vortices. Currently, the presence of wake vortices past different objects limits the airspace capacity and flight safety level for aircraft of different purposes. However, wake vortex nature and evolution have not been studied in full measure. A mathematical model simulating the process of near wake generation past bodies of different shapes, as well as the wake evolution after rolling-up into wake vortices (far wake) will be developed. The processes are suggested to be modeled by means of the Method of Discrete Vortices. Far wake evolution is determined by its complex interaction with the atmosphere and ground boundary layer. The main factors that are supposed to take into account are: wind and ambient turbulence 3Ddistributions, temperature stratification of the atmosphere, wind shear, as well as some others which effects will be manifested as considerable during the investigation. The ground boundary layer effects on wake vortex evolution are substantial at low flight altitudes and are determined through the boundary layer separation. The separation leads to changes in the wake vortex altitude and intensity. KEY WORDS: Wake vortices, Method of Discrete Vortices, flight safety.

1. Introduction Any aircraft generate wake vortices during its flight. Wake vortices pose threat to following aircraft and as a result they must fly at a considerable distance from the generator. This distance depends on flight conditions and may run up to about 20 kilometers. This factor is a great obstacle to development and efficiency of aviation. Therefore, study of wake vortices is a very important and challenging problem. CFD methods play an important role in this. However, full-scale simulation on the basis of the NavierStokes equations gives only insight in the physics of the problem and does not resolved practical issues. Therefore, another very important
*

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research RFBR (No. 07-07-00118)

L.I. Turchak task is development of simplified models that could be used in real time. One of such models was developed in Russia under the name VFS (Vortex Forecasting System) [1]. Some important elements of such a model are presented in this paper. 2. Background The wake vortex evolution model is based on a quasi plane-parallel flow hypothesis. The discrete vortices simulating wake vortices in planar cross sections move with local velocity of the air flow. This velocity is a composition of the wind velocity and that induced by the other discrete vortices according to the BiotSavart law. Therefore,

dx j dt

= v j = v BS + v w + v sh + v strat

for each of the discrete vortices, j, where v j is the air flow velocity at the jth discrete vortex point, v BS is the velocity induced by the other discrete vortices according to the BiotSavart law, and v w , v sh , v strat are the velocities determined by wind, wind shear, and atmosphere stratification respectively. Wake vortex evolution is determined not only by vorticity transfer processes. First, it is accompanied by diffusion processes due both to small-scale atmospheric turbulence and so called vortex viscosity (or turbulence viscosity). Second, wake vortex evolution is accompanied by processes of generation and decay of vorticity that are due to the following factors: ground proximity, as the vorticity is permanently generated and decayed as a result of viscous interaction between wake vortices and the ground boundary layer; atmospheric stratification, which supports the vorticity generation and decay inside wake vortices away from the ground. When calculating BiotSavart velocities induced by discrete vortices, the latter are divided into two categories: main discrete vortices, i.e. discrete vortices generated by aircraft, and secondary discrete vortices generated in the ground proximity due to the ground boundary layer viscosity. The main discrete vortices are subjected to decay, wind shear effects, and stratification as opposed to the secondary ones. One should use ground mirror-image discrete vortices of opposite circulations for the both kinds of vortices. The velocity field induced by that vorticity field is calculated according to the BiotSavart law as follows:

Modeling of Wake Vortex Evolution

( y y j )2 + (z z j )2 + r 2 (y y j )exp 2 j =1 j j 2 2 N ( y + y j ) + (z z j ) 1 j , + ~ 2 (y + y j )exp 2 2 j =1 r j j 2 ( y y j ) + (z z j )2 1 N j vBSy ( z , y ) = (z z j )exp 2 j =1 r j 2 2 j 2 2 N ( y + y j ) + (z z j ) 1 ~ 2j (z z j )exp 2 j =1 rj 2 j 1 vBSz ( z , y ) = 2

N

where rj is the distance between the jth vortex and the point with coordinates (z, y) where we calculate
2 2

the

velocity:

rj =

(y

y ) + (z j z ) ,
2 2

~ = rj

(y

+ y ) + (z j z ) .

The initial circulation, j , of the vortices and their position in an arbitrary vertical plane section, x, on the aircraft wake are determined as a solution of the aerodynamic problem for aircraft flow and calculation of near wake parameters. The vortex position at an arbitrary time, T, in an arbitrary vertical cross plane, x, is defined by integration of the vortex motion differential equations

dz j dt dy j dt

= vBS z ( z j , y j ) + vW z ( y j , t ) = vBS y ( z j , y j ) + vW y ( y j , t )

in the interval [t0; T] with initial conditions z j ( 0) = z j 0 , y j ( 0) = y j 0 . Here vW z ( y j , t ) , vW y ( y j , t ) are the horizontal and vertical components of the wind velocity in the wake section under study, and t0 is the moment of the aircraft flyby in that section. The wake vortex diffusion intensity is determined by the value of the effective viscosity coefficient, * (which is called also as the vortex viscosity or turbulent viscosity coefficient), which supports slow increase in the vortex core size. It should be noted that wake vortex evolution away from the ground without atmosphere stratification strongly depends on diffusion between regions with positive and negative vorticity, which is the key factor for wake vortex global decay (and thus for wake danger).

L.I. Turchak The vorticity diffusion in the presented method is realized through spreading of each vortex particle core in accordance with the following equation:

d j dt

= 4 *

Herewith, along with convective and diffusion processes in the wake vortex system, dissipation of the vortex structure due to atmosphere turbulent diffusion takes place. 3. Simulation of Atmosphere Turbulence Effect The vorticity dissipation results in wake vortex decay due to interaction with large-scale atmosphere vortices. Although large vortices of considerable energy can result in large deformation and displacement of wake vortices, as well as in development of large-scale Crow instability, precisely turbulent vortices of small scale (of the b0 order) directly affect wake vortex circulation decay. Turbulent vortices of less scale, probably, more homogenous and isotropic. They mostly are inside the Kolmogorov inertial subrange characterized only by the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, *. Therefore, one can use * as a turbulence parameter affecting wake vortex decay instead of q. These two parameters are related to each * 3 other through equation = q / L where L is the scale of turbulence. Currently atmosphere turbulence is inserted into calculations mostly by means of the Greene TKE-model [2] and Sarpkaya EDR-model [3]. The choice of one or another model depends on the type of input data, i.e. whichever coefficient, EDR or TKE, measures the atmosphere turbulence. These models are based on the notion of vortex life span, i.e. the time period after which the vortex burst is occurred: development of the Crow instability, collapse, vortex pair closure, or other nonlinear effects. The vortex life span, Tdemise,0, could be calculated using the Sarpkaya model. As the atmosphere turbulence intensity depends on the altitude (the dimensionless EDR coefficient, , is a function of the altitude), calculation of wake vortex evolution should use the following equation: (3.1)

d j dt

= C

tdemise ( )

where j is the jth vortex circulation. Here the value of the dimensionless coefficient, , is calculated at the altitude of the vortex centroid at the current moment t. This altitude is calculated as the mean value of the centroid altitudes of the left and right vortices. To determine the time of transfer of the wake vortex intensity to the stage of fast decay, we introduce the function fdemise(t), which characterizes a part of the vortex life span that is achieved at the time t and is calculated through the following equation:

Modeling of Wake Vortex Evolution

f demise (t ) =

dt t

0 demise

( )
T

or in dimensionless coordinates (3.2)

f demise (T ) =
0

Tdemise ( )

dT

where is defined as above. When the function fdemise (T) becomes equal to 1, the wake vortices enter into the phase of fast decay. The fast and slow decay phases in the model under consideration are characterized each of a specific value of the coefficient C: C,1 for the first phase of decay and C,2 for the second phase. 4. Simulation of Atmosphere Stratification Effect Stratification effects on wake vortex decay are taken into consideration as

Tdemise ( ) 1 , i.e. instead of the function of the function Tdemise ( )exp( 0,185NTdemise ( ))
dimensionless

follows. The function

in the equation for fdemise should be substituted for

Tdemise ( , N ) = Tdemise ( ) exp( 0,185NTdemise ( )) where N is the dimensionless

g dT g g d N = t0 N with N 2 = max ,0 + , 0 = max dz T dz c p

life

span

Tdemise()

we

use

the

function

BrentVaisala frequency:

Here T(z) is the temperature profile, cp is the heat capacity with constant pressure, and g is the gravity acceleration. If we know the potential temperature profile, ( z ) , then we use it directly. Stably stratified atmosphere corresponds to the case N 2 > 0 . Unstable atmosphere is not simulated. Therefore, the value fdemise (T) is determined by the equation

f demise (T ) =
0

Tdemise ( , N )

dT

dT ( )exp( 0,185NTdemise ( )) T 0 demise

Note that the 'time constant' in the decay equation remains as before equal to tdemise. The additional decay due to stratification is included as an additional model. In other words, the circulation decay rate is calculated on the basis of two independent models, the first of which involves atmosphere turbulence, and the second involves stratification. However, transition from the slow decay phase to the fast decay one,

L.I. Turchak i.e. switch from C,1 to C,2 in Eq. (3.1), is determined using Eq. (3.2), which involves the both effects. Deceleration of vortex motion due to stratification is taken into account through decrease in vortex circulations and decrease in descent velocity. Stratification deceleration is described by the equation
2 d 2 d z vstrat = str str 2 dt dt strat

and stratification circulation decrease by the equation

d 2z d 2 = (1 str ) str (2b0 ) 2 dt dt strat

where str is the global effective of the model and str is the fraction coefficient of the two model parts. The latter coefficient value is in the range from 0 (deceleration is only due to circulation change) to 1 (deceleration occurs without circulation change). It is appropriate to use the values only from 0.5 to 1 (the typical value is 0.75). Values less than 0.5 are not recommended, as they could sometimes result in negative circulations. 5. Simulation of In Ground Effect When wake vortex moves near the ground, it interacts with the ground boundary layer. The result is the boundary layer separation, which could be simulated by generation of secondary discrete vortices with intensity and initial position being determined through calculation of the boundary layer parameters. So the equation system for wake vortex motion at each integration step is supplemented by a vortex pair simulating the ground boundary layer. Therefore the dimension of the wake vortex motion equation system at the kth integration step equals to N + 2(k 1). The circulation of the secondary vortex is defined by the formula

1 2 u z t 2

and its vertical coordinate equals to

2 R2 1 = l u z Re

where

Re =

u Vl R 2 = z 2 ,

Here 1 and 2 are the displacement thickness and momentum thickness respectively, uz is the velocity at the boundary layer outer border disposed at the separation point,

Modeling of Wake Vortex Evolution is the atmosphere kinematic viscosity coefficient, V is the aircraft speed, l is its wing span, t is the step for generation of secondary vortices in the wake vortex dynamic model. The boundary layer characteristics are calculated on the basis of the corresponding boundary layer model. The presented system of equations allows one to simulate aircraft wake vortex dynamics including various atmosphere effects, as well as viscous interaction between wake vortices and the ground. 5. Calculation results The model was used for simulation of wake vortex behavior for aircraft Il-76 flying at the altitude of 50 meters without cross wind (Figures 13) and under cross wind of 1 m/s (Figures 46). The aircraft speed is 100 m/s. The wake descent at the altitude about a half wingspan leads to manifestation of in-ground effects. As a result of the ground boundary layer separation, a secondary vortex with circulation of the opposite sign is generated. The interaction of the aircraft wake vortex with the latter leads to effects presented in the Figures.

Fig. 1. Side coordinates, z, of left and right wake vortex centroids as functions of time, t. The case of wind absence.

L.I. Turchak

Fig. 2. Vertical coordinates, y, of left and right wake vortex centroids (their graphs coincide) as functions of time, t. The case of wind absence.

Fig. 3. Vertical coordinates, y, of left and right wake vortex centroids as functions of side coordinates, z (rear view). The case of wind absence.

Modeling of Wake Vortex Evolution

Fig. 4. Side coordinates, z, of left and right wake vortex centroids as functions of time, t. The case of wind presence.

Fig. 5. Vertical coordinates, y, of left and right wake vortex centroids (their graphs coincide) as functions of time, t. The case of wind presence.

L.I. Turchak

Fig. 6. Vertical coordinates, y, of left and right wake vortex centroids as functions of side coordinates, z (rear view). The case of wind presence.

Note that the picture is symmetric for left and right vortices in the case of wind absence. The symmetry is violated under wind conditions. REFERENCES [1] TURCHAK, L.I., BELOTSERKOVSKIY A.S., ET AL. Wake Vortex Flight Safety Systems for Aircraft, Nauka, Moscow, 2008 (In Russian). [2] GREENE, G.C. An Approximate Model of Vortex Decay in the Atmosphere. J. of Aircraft, 23 (1986), 566-573. [3] SARPKAYA, T. Decay of Wake Vortices of Large Aircraft, AIAA J., Vol. 36 (1998), No 4, 1671-1679.