Operationalizing Flight Formations for Aerodynamic Benefits

Erbschloe, Donald R.; Antczak, Adam; Carter, Dennis L.; Dale, Gary A.; Döll, Carsten; Luckner, Robert; Marks, Tobias; Niestroy, Michael A.

doi:10.2514/6.2020-1004

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…As a result, the thrust setting needs to be reduced in order to maintain a stable flight state [3]. The thereby harvested energy can then be traded for longer flight time, larger range or less fuel consumption, the latter leading to cost savings or higher payloads accordingly [4]. These prospects make AWSE interesting for aviation and since the first description of the basic principle, research has been conducted on the various aspects of this new procedure to adapt it to man-made aircraft.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Impact Mitigation Potential of Formation Flight

et al. 2021

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The aerodynamic formation flight, which is also known as aircraft wake-surfing for efficiency (AWSE), enables aircraft to harvest the energy inherent in another aircraft’s wake vortex. As the thrust of the trailing aircraft can be reduced during cruise flight, the resulting benefit can be traded for longer flight time, larger range, less fuel consumption, or cost savings accordingly. Furthermore, as the amount and location of the emissions caused by the formation are subject to change and saturation effects in the cumulated wake of the formation can occur, AWSE can favorably affect the climate impact of the corresponding flights. In order to quantify these effects, we present an interdisciplinary approach combining the fields of aerodynamics, aircraft operations and atmospheric physics. The approach comprises an integrated model chain to assess the climate impact for a given air traffic scenario based on flight plan data, aerodynamic interactions between the formation members, detailed trajectory calculations as well as on an adapted climate model accounting for the saturation effects resulting from the proximity of the emissions of the formation members. Based on this approach, we derived representative AWSE scenarios for the world’s major airports by analyzing and assessing flight plans. The resulting formations were recalculated by a trajectory calculation tool and emission inventories for the scenarios were created. Based on these inventories, we quantitatively estimated the climate impact using the average temperature response (ATR) as climate metric, calculated as an average global near surface temperature change over a time horizon of 50 years. It is shown, that AWSE as a new operational procedure has a significant mitigation potential on climate impact. For a global formation flight scenario, we estimated the average relative change of climate response to range between 22% and 24% while the relative fuel saving effects sum up to 5–6%.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Impact Mitigation Potential of Formation Flight

et al. 2021

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“…1(a)]. A recent study [16] have claimed that even though "Physical model can predict location and strength of the vortex [. .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Onboard wake vortex localization with a coherent 1.5 µm Doppler LIDAR for aircraft in formation flight configuration

et al. 2020

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An onboard LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensor designed to track wake vortex created by aircraft in formation flight is presented. It uses short pulses (75 ns) to obtain a spatial resolution of ∼22.5 m required to resolve small-scale structures of vortices and a blind zone of 17.5 m to locate vortices next to the wing tip. Monte Carlo simulations show that vortex centers could be located within ±0.5 m. Flight tests were performed with two aircraft in formation flight configuration. The LIDAR, installed in the following aircraft, was able to measure, in real time (every 6 s), the air flow velocities induced by the vortices created by the leading aircraft. The software was used to determine the vortex centers. These measurements were coupled to global positioning system (GPS) measurements of the two aircraft positions to determine the falling velocity of the vortices and infer their circulations.

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Formation Flying (Air-Wake-Surfing) for Efficient Operations – NATO STO Research Task AVT- 279

Nangia

Brown

2020

AIAA Scitech 2020 Forum

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Operationalizing Flight Formations for Aerodynamic Benefits

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Climate Impact Mitigation Potential of Formation Flight

Climate Impact Mitigation Potential of Formation Flight

Onboard wake vortex localization with a coherent 1.5 µm Doppler LIDAR for aircraft in formation flight configuration

Formation Flying (Air-Wake-Surfing) for Efficient Operations – NATO STO Research Task AVT- 279

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