Airplanes spend an awful lot of time waiting on tarmacs. In some cases, the time a plane spends waiting on the tarmac rivals the flight itself. A new mathematical tool developed by engineers could change that.
Georgios Vatistas, a mechanical engineering professor at Montreal’s Concordia University, has developed a tool capable of calculating the flow of turbulent air produced by a plane’s wing tips (also known as wing-tip vortices) once it takes off.
The impact of turbulent flow
“Every aircraft leaves in its wake a turbulent flow of air that can be dangerous to the airplane immediately behind it," said the professor. "That’s why there are often large separation distances between planes as they line up for takeoff. It’s a major cause of delays on the runway."
His work could potentially reduce the standard distance between planes on tarmacs. How? Figuring out the amount of turbulence an aircraft produces during takeoff (as a result of wing tips) offers air traffic controllers a better idea of how far airplanes should be from each other.
Analyzing the plane's specifications
“This research will place the required separation distance on a better ground, particularly for the huge Airbus [A]380,” said Vatistas, adding that his model “takes the airplane’s specifications into account to develop a more precise picture of exactly how strong the wing tip vortices are. From that, you can accurately calculate how far away the following aircraft needs to be for safety.”
Vatisas says it’s important to develop separation standards for larger aircrafts, such as the Airbus A380. “At the same time, we need to develop more precise standards for smaller aircraft,” he explained. “This mathematical model could guide us to do both — in effect, tailoring separation distances based on aircraft size to allow better variability in spacing.”
A detailed account of his research will be published in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ (AIAA) Journal of Aircraft. For more information, visit Concordia University’s website.