The Measurement of the Boeing 747 Trailing Vortex System Using the Tower Fly-By Technique

Abstract

The characteristics of the trailing vortex system of the Boeing 747 airplane have been investigated by the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC), Atlantic City, N. J., during a series of flight tests conducted in September and October 1972. This investigation is part of a long-term program, started in February 1970 with flight tests conducted by NAFEC at the Atomic Energy Commission site at Idaho Falls, Idaho, devoted to the study of the overall wake turbulence problem. The present tests were conducted using improved flow measurement and meteorological instrumentation, permitting greater resolution than had been possible in earlier testing. Principal findings were that the peak tangential velocity decays as the reciprocal of the square root of the time elapsed since vortex generation; that the peak velocity is unaffected by the throttling back of the adjacent outboard engine; and that the lateral transport velocities correlate quite well with theory.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1974
Accession Number
AD0782046

Entities

People

  • David Lawrence
  • Leo J. Garodz
  • Nelson J. Miller

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Aerodynamic Configurations
  • Air Force
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Cargo Aircraft
  • Computer Programs
  • Data Processing
  • Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Flow Visualization
  • Jet Transport Aircraft
  • Leading Edge Flaps
  • Measurement
  • Recording Systems
  • Turbulence
  • Wind Velocity

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Aerodynamics.
  • Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management
  • Mathematics or Statistics