Comptes Rendus
Airplane trailing vortices and their control
Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 6 (2005) no. 4-5, pp. 487-499.

Airplane trailing vortices are examined under natural and forced conditions. Control strategies are presented, which aim to reduce the potential for severe upsets resulting from encounters with the vortices. These range from passive control, using spanload modifications, up to active control, using control-surface oscillations. Flight-simulator results are used to judge the effectiveness of the different control strategies. Active control is shown to be effective for breaking up the trailing vortices, and for reducing the potential for severe vortex-encounter upsets. Stability theory is used to explain the mechanisms underlying this form of control.

Les tourbillons de sillages d'avions sont examinés sous l'angle de leur contrôle. Diverses stratégies visant à réduire les conséquences de la rencontre d'un avion avec les tourbillons d'un avion qui le précède sont ainsi analysées. Ces stratégies couvrent le cas d'un contrôle passif, basé uniquement sur une modification du plan de voilure, jusqu'à celui d'un contrôle actif consistant à faire osciller certaines surfaces portantes. L'efficacité de ces approches est évaluée à partir des résultats d'un simulateur de vol. On montre que le contrôle actif réduit significativement le danger potentiel de l'interaction avion/sillage quand ce contrôle permet de faire interférer de manière destructive les tourbillons. Les mécanismes physiques sous jacents à cette méthode de contrôle sont explicités.

Published online:
DOI: 10.1016/j.crhy.2005.05.006
Keywords: Vortices, Vortex breakup, Active control, Vortex encounters, Instability, Transient growth, Floquet theory
Mot clés : Tourbillons, Sillages d'avions, Contrôle, Instabilités, Croissances transitoires, Théorie de Floquet

Jeffrey Crouch 1

1 Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Seattle, USA
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Jeffrey Crouch. Airplane trailing vortices and their control. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Volume 6 (2005) no. 4-5, pp. 487-499. doi : 10.1016/j.crhy.2005.05.006. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/physique/articles/10.1016/j.crhy.2005.05.006/

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