Wake Physics

Area Co-ordinator: CERFACS , Toulouse (France)


This area covers three other specific fields:

These sections have many interest groups representing specific fields.




Effect of wind
Due to their mutual induced velocities, wake vortices are descending to the ground. However several phenomenom could counter their descent. An example of rebound due to crosswind shear is presented in the following movie. Furthermore, this movie shows an interesting feature where a secondary vortex is ejected and remains near the runway axis.
CERFACS IDAHO FALLS Run #23 (264kB)

Effect of atmospheric turbulence
The decay of wake vortices is one of the main controversy. The consensus is not yet reached. Several teams are working on this fields. CERFACS, for example, think the vortex stretching should be considered as the main cause.
CERFACS Ageing of vortices in turbulent background (329kB)