Turbulence simulation for lightweight aircraft
Turbulence simulation for lightweight aircraft
Lighter aircraft save fuel and are environment friendly, but they also need to be safe and offer comfort for passengers. Gusts of wind are a particular challenge for lightweight aircraft, because they can cause the wings and horizontal stabilisers to oscillate, subjecting the passengers to a shaking motion. This has prompted the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) to study a model of a lightweight aircraft's wing and tail unit in a wind tunnel at its Göttingen facility.
This image shows a computer simulation of the turbulence around models of a wing and horizontal stabiliser, as would occur during a gust of wind. The red areas show strong vortices, the blue shows areas with opposite rotation.
