Atmospheric Gusts—a Review of the Results of Some Recent Research at the Royal Aircraft Establishment

Abstract

Recent Royal Aircraft Establishment research on gusts has been particularly concerned with severe gusts and the situations in which they occur. I n the stratosphere, mountain wave conditions and the vicinity of thunderstorm tops have been investigated. A t lower altitudes, gusts in and near thunderstorms have also been studied, as have wind and gust effects likely t o be significant during takeoff and landing. The mathematical modeling of severe gusts relevant t o aircraft design is described, and the effects of pilot control activity during flight through gusts are considered briefly. Particular emphasis has been placed on two aspects of the work: (1) the study of possible means by which severe gusts might be avoided in aircraft operations and (2) the limitations of existing mathematical models of gusts that are used in aircraft design. Suggestions are made for models that may prove to be both more accurate and more physically plausible.

Gust loads on aircraft

“…. (8) where the symbols are identical to those for sharp-edge gust. In the whole history, the gust gradient distance H was designated to different values successively, such as 12.5 and 25 chords; however, the latest regulations of the gust gradient distance in FAR-25 (20) , CS-25 (15) and JAR 25 (21) require a sufficient number of gust gradient distance in the range of 30 feet to 350 feet to be investigated in order to find the critical response for each load quantity.…”

“…In his review, the influence of atmospheric turbulence on some aspects of aircraft engineering was mentioned, and the problem of the calculation was discussed in some detail. In 1970, Burnham (8) wrote a review introducing the latest research progress that the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) had made on gusts at that time. Several years later, Houbolt (9) published a review paper elaborating the influence of atmospheric turbulence, mainly related to gusts, on the flight and design of aircraft.…”

Impact of land convection on temperature diurnal variation in the tropical lower stratosphere inferred from COSMIC GPS radio occultations

“…The occurrence of convective overshoots reaching 20 km with local upward velocities of up to 50-60 m s −1 has long been known (e.g. Vonnegut and Moore, 1958;Burnham, 1970;Roach and James, 1972;Cornford and Spavins, 1973;Fujita, 1992;Danielsen, 1982Danielsen, , 1993. Whereas the existence of cross-tropopause transport by deep overshooting is generally accepted, its role in TST had not been assessed until recently since major attention in this context has been paid to the region of the warm pool in the west Pacific instead, where the vast majority of field observations has been carried out.…”

Impact of land convection on the thermal structure of the lower stratosphere as inferred from COSMIC GPS radio occultations

“…The occurrence of convective overshoots reaching 20 km with local upward velocities of up to 50-60 m s −1 is known for long (e.g. Vonnegut and Moore, 1958;Burnham, 1970;Roach and James 1972;Cornford and Spavins, 1973;Bowell et al, 1986;Fujita, 1992;Danielsen, 1993).…”