With plates against a dangerous Wake turbulence
At the airport of the Austrian capital researchers want to mitigate by using plates of Wake vortices. The measure in Vienna provides more than just security.
Wake turbulence can lead to huge problems. Two years ago, of an Airbus A380 caused turbulence that sent a German business jet in a 3000-Meter dive. Shortly thereafter, a Boeing 777 at the airport in Geneva covered by the vortex of air in a roof part. And an Airbus A350-900 is even suspected to be in may 2019 by eddy, a four-seater propeller plane towing at the Dubai airport to have to crash.
Vortex long-lived vortices generated by each aircraft drag. Roll on the wing tips, where the meeting under pressure from the Wing surface and the Pressure of the wings under side. They occur in all phases of flight and can cause problems behind the aircraft. The propeller plane was in Dubai about a parallel offset behind the Airbus A350 at a height of 335 meters, before he was apparently captured by the turbulence of a large plane.
First measurements show successes
At the airport of Vienna, the German centre for air and space DLR and the Austrian air traffic Control Agency, Austro Control will now be working on Wake vortices in the approach to disarm the area. To succeed in this by setting a number of plates, known as Plate Lines in the approach area. "As the eddies dissipate in the higher layers of the atmosphere most quickly, remain Short of the runway occasionally some of the time just above the ground," explains the DLR. Right there on the set, but subsequent aircraft to land.
"In Vienna, about nine feet long and four and a half-Meter-high plates of vertebrae, the actual Wake vortices significantly faster decay to form Secondary." The objective of the EU-funded project is the effectiveness of the panels at a major airport demonstrate. In the flow simulations and for each of the flight tests, this evidence could be provided. At the Airport of the Austrian capital, the behavior of the Wake vortices is now with a laser measuring device recorded. "All of the first evaluations of the new measurements in Vienna show that the Wake vortices in the vicinity of the plates actually significantly faster decay," says the DLR Wake vortex researchers Frank Holzäpfel.
Less railway extensions necessary?
The plates will not only increase the safety but also the capacity of airports. Currently, small and medium-sized aircraft have to comply with some ten kilometers distance from flying heavier machines. The plates should work, could fly in and out of the plane "behind larger machines with smaller intervals, which also affects the capacity of a positive effect," writes Austro Control.
The DLR even declared: "The construction of new runways at established airports, is associated with a considerable effort." Also urban areas are often affected. "To succeed in the future, under full warranty of safety, to make the aircraft a poet in a row to land, could be used with the existing systems more effectively, and track extensions would be avoided," said the researchers.
In the above image gallery to see shots of the plates, are tested in Vienna.