Advanced Multi-Aircraft Shipboard Landing Model

Progress has been made in modeling and simulation of the shipboard operation cases to support analysis of the single aircraft landing task. However, limitations exist where the analysis does not include the interference arising from simultaneous operationof multiple aircraft on the same ship. To improve all aspects, especially flight safety, of shipboard operations with multiple aircraft, the interaction between the ship and the aircraft, as well as between multiple aircraft, must be addressed.We propose to(1) construct and integrate with FLIGHTLAB a prescribed tip vortex model with vortex decay effect to provide an efficient multi-aircraft wake hazard assessment tool and to support parametric study of the effects of upwind aircraft wake on shipboardaircraft landing.(2) enhance Peters/He's finite state dynamic wake model with a far field wake evolution model including wake distortion and decay to support both real-time and non-real-time multi-aircraft operation modeling and analysis.(3) enhance and fully integrate with FLIGHTLAB the time-accurate free vortex wake model by Bhagwat and Leishman for shipboard multi-aircraft interaction analysis. The enhancement will include a high fidelity vortex evolution model to address the vortexcore growth and vortex strength variation due to the vorticity diffusion and dissipation.(4) develop and integrate into FLIGHTLAB a unified formulation to couple the ship motion, ship airwake/turbulence, and multi-aircraft interference models and render an advanced ship/aircraft dynamic interface model.(5) extend the development to commercial applications for air traffic control and terminal area operations. This SBIR could potentially result in various commercial products and create strong interest among ship and aircraft designers, researchers, and manufacturers, the military, the FAA, and commercial airline operators. The multi-aircraft interference modeldeveloped will benefit aircraft shipboard operations and support the process of design, training, and planning. It will also benefit commercial airlines for take-off and landing safety and improvement of terminal area operation efficiency.