Effect of ground obstacle separation distance on wake vortex dissipation

© American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. All rights reserved. The implementation of plate type ground obstacle for wake vortex dissipation in the vicinity of runway has been investigated in previous studies by our collaborators at the German Aerospace Institute (DLR) though both laboratory experiments, Large Eddy Simulation studies, and flight tests. We have expended on the concept by investigating the impact of different plate configurations, in terms of shape from top-down view, on the rate of dissipation as well as the propagation speed of the instability introduced by the obstacle. Parameter study of “Plate Line” obstacle were carried was out using Large Eddy Simulation with OpenFOAM solver, with emphasis on the relative lateral position between the initial vortex and the “Plate” obstacle. The test section dimensions and the initial vortex parameters from DLR's Wasser Schleppkanal Göttingen experiment was used in the simulation to isolate the effect of obstacle from the influence of background turbulence and cross wind.