THE MEASUREMENT OF THE BOEING 747 TRAILING VORTEX SYSTEM USING THE TOWER FLY-BY TECHNIQUE

The characteristics of the trailing vortex system of the Boeing 747 airplane have been investigated by the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC), Atlantic City, N. J., during a series of flight tests conducted in September and October 1972. This investigation is part of a long-term program, started in February 1970 with flight tests conducted by NAFEC at the Atomic Energy Commission site at Idaho Falls, Idaho, devoted to the study of the overall wake turbulence problem. The present tests were conducted using improved flow measurement and meteorological instrumentation, permitting greater resolution than had been possible in earlier testing. Principal findings were that the peak tangential velocity decays as the reciprocal of the square root of the time elapsed since vortex generation; that the peak velocity is unaffected by the throttling back of the adjacent outboard engine; and that the lateral transport velocities correlate quite well with theory. (Modified author abstract)

• Corporate Authors:

  National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center

  Federal Aviation Administration
  Atlantic City, NJ  United States  08405
• Authors:
  • Garodz, L J
  • LAWRENCE, D
  • Miller, N J
• Publication Date: 1974-6

Media Info

• Pagination: 238 p.

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00057963
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: FAA-NA-73-73 Final Rpt.
• Files: NTIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Nov 20 1974 12:00AM