The Air Force Research Lab and DARPA have been investigating the challenges and opportunities associated with flying aircraft in formation for aerodynamic benefit. Under the Surfing Aircraft Vortices for Energy (SAVE) concept, aircraft are flown autonomously at longitudinal separations of 3000-8000ft at offsets from the wake sufficient to obtain significant aerodynamic benefit. A baseline C-17 simulation is updated to include the dynamics and the aerodynamic effects of a lead aircraft wake on a trailing aircraft. Details of the wake dynamic and aerodynamic models are provided, including how CFD based models are integrated into a real-time simulation. Flight test data analysis is conducted to extract the actual aerodynamic influences and the results are compared to the CFD based models. The simulation models are updated based on the flight test data and the final results are compared to flight test maneuvers and flight test derived fuel burn measurements.
[1]
Stefan R. Bieniawski,et al.
Operational Analysis for the Formation Flight for Aerodynamic Benefit Program
,
2014
.
[2]
Frank Holzäpfel,et al.
Probabilistic Two-Phase Wake Vortex Decay and Transport Model
,
2003
.
[3]
Carsten Schwarz,et al.
Aircraft Wake Vortex Scenarios Simulation Package for Takeoff and Departure
,
2009
.
[4]
Jeffrey P. Slotnick,et al.
Computational Aerodynamic Analysis for the Formation Flight for Aerodynamic Benefit Program
,
2014
.
[5]
William B. Blake,et al.
Summary of Flight Testing and Results for the Formation Flight for Aerodynamic Benefit Program
,
2014
.
[7]
J. D. Crouch.
Instability and transient growth for two trailing-vortex pairs
,
1997
.