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Lewellen, W. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Lewellen, W. S..

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2012

Electrical Characteristics of Simulated Tornadoes and Dust Devils

It is well known that tornadoes and dust devils have the ability to accumulate significant, visible clouds of debris. Collisions between sand-like debris species produce different electric charges on different types of grains, which convect along different trajectories around the vortex. Thus, significant charge separations and electric currents are possible, which as the vortex fluctuates over time are thought to produce ULF radiation signatures that have been measured in the field. These electric and magnetic fields may contain valuable information about tornado structure and genesis, and may be critical in driving electrochemical processes within dust devils on Mars. In the present work, existing large eddy simulations of debris-laden tornadoes performed at West Virginia University are coupled with a new debris-charging and advection code developed at Goddard Space Flight Center to investigate the detailed (meter-resolution) fluid-dynamic origins of electromagnetic fields within terrestrial vortices. First results are presented, including simulations of the electric and magnetic fields that would be observed by a near-surface, instrument-laden probe during a direct encounter with a tornado.

Zimmerman, Michael I.↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Effects of Aircraft Wake Dynamics on Contrail Development

Results of large-eddy simulations of the development of young persistent ice contrails are presented, concentrating on the interactions between the aircraft wake dynamics and the ice cloud evolution over ages front a few seconds to approx. 30 min. The 3D unsteady evolution of the dispersing engine exhausts, trailing vortex pair interaction and breakup, and subsequent Brunt-Vaisala oscillations of the older wake plume are modeled in detail in high-resolution simulations, coupled with it bulk microphysics model for the contrail ice development. The simulations confirm that the early wake dynamics can have a strong influence on the properties of persistent contrails even at late times. The vortex dynamics are the primary determinant of the vertical extent of the contrail (until precipitate ton becomes significant): and this together with the local wind shear largely determines the horizontal extent. The ice density, ice crystal number density, and a conserved exhaust tracer all develop and disperse in different fashions from each other. The total ice crystal number can be significantly reduced due to adiabatic compression resulting from the downward motion of the vortex system, even for ambient conditions that are substantially supersaturated with respect to ice. The fraction of the initial ice crystals surviving, their spatial distribution and the ice mass distribution are all sensitive to the aircraft type, ambient humidity, assumed initial ice crystal number, and ambient turbulence conditions. There is a significant range of conditions for which a smaller transport such as a B737 produces as significant a persistent contrail as a larger transport such as a B747, even though the latter consumes almost five times as much fuel. The difficulties involved in trying to minimize persistent contrail production are discussed.

Lewellen, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Effects of Aircraft Wake Dynamics on Measured and Simulated NO(x) and HO(x) Wake Chemistry

High-resolution numerical large-eddy simulations of the near wake of a B757 including simplified NOx and HOx chemistry were performed to explore the effects of dynamics on chemistry in wakes of ages from a few seconds to several minutes. Dilution plays an important basic role in the NOx-O3 chemistry in the wake, while a more interesting interaction between the chemistry and dynamics occurs for the HOx species. These simulation results are compared with published measurements of OH and HO2 within a B757 wake under cruise conditions in the upper troposphere taken during the Subsonic Aircraft Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study (SUCCESS) mission in May 1996. The simulation provides a much finer grained representation of the chemistry and dynamics of the early wake than is possible from the 1 s data samples taken in situ. The comparison suggests that the previously reported discrepancy of up to a factor of 20 - 50 between the SUCCESS measurements of the [HO2]/[OH] ratio and that predicted by simplified theoretical computations is due to the combined effects of large mixing rates around the wake plume edges and averaging over volumes containing large species fluctuations. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using three-dimensional unsteady large-eddy simulations with coupled chemistry to study such phenomena.

Lewellen, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Large-Eddy Simulations and Lidar Measurements of Vortex-Pair Breakup in Aircraft Wakes

Results of large-eddy simulations of an aircraft wake are compared with results from ground-based lidar measurements made at NASA Langley Research Center during the Subsonic Assessment Near-Field Interaction Flight Experiment field tests. Brief reviews of the design of the field test for obtaining the evolution of wake dispersion behind a Boeing 737 and of the model developed for simulating such wakes are given. Both the measurements and the simulations concentrate on the period from a few seconds to a few minutes after the wake is generated, during which the essentially two-dimensional vortex pair is broken up into a variety of three-dimensional eddies. The model and experiment show similar distinctive breakup eddies induced by the mutual interactions of the vortices, after perturbation by the atmospheric motions.

Lewellen, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Micrometeorological applications of a second-order closure model of turbulent transport

Recent applications of the turbulent transport model originally developed by Donaldson to some problems of practical importance in micrometeorology are discussed. Four particular examples considered are the local boundary layer gust front emanating from a thunderstorm; the low-level wind and turbulent distributions of a tornado; the transport of momentum, heat and species within a surface layer canopy, and longitudinal roll vortices in the unstable planetary boundary layer. Results for the last example are discussed in some detail. Comparisons are made between a one-dimensional and a two-dimensional computation of this phenomenon.

Lewellen, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Turbulent transport model of wind shear in thunderstorm gust fronts and warm fronts

A model of turbulent flow in the atmospheric boundary layer was used to simulate the low-level wind and turbulence profiles associated with both local thunderstorm gust fronts and synoptic-scale warm fronts. Dimensional analyses of both type fronts provided the physical scaling necessary to permit normalized simulations to represent fronts for any temperature jump. The sensitivity of the thunderstorm gust front to five different dimensionless parameters as well as a change from axisymmetric to planar geometry was examined. The sensitivity of the warm front to variations in the Rossby number was examined. Results of the simulations are discussed in terms of the conditions which lead to wind shears which are likely to be most hazardous for aircraft operations.

Lewellen, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

The prediction of turbulence and wind shear associated with thunderstorm gust fronts

The parametric dependence of storm simulation is explored on the basis of the previously reported (1977) second-order closure model of turbulence designed to simulate a thunderstorm gust front. The model simulation results are intended for extrapolation to the conditions considered most hazardous to aircraft operation. It is shown that the presistence and strength of the gust front are enhanced significantly by increasing the spread of the downdraft shaft and the velocity at the top of the domain. Turbulence develops in the regions of high shear and is most intense near the corner and within the gust front itself. While the center shaft is certainly an area to be avoided, the gust front region is probably more critical because it may extend over a large region far from the center of the downdraft, in a highly transient state.

Teske, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Model predictions of wind and turbulence profiles associated with an ensemble of aircraft accidents

The feasibility of predicting conditions under which wind/turbulence environments hazardous to aviation operations exist is studied by examining a number of different accidents in detail. A model of turbulent flow in the atmospheric boundary layer is used to reconstruct wind and turbulence profiles which may have existed at low altitudes at the time of the accidents. The predictions are consistent with available flight recorder data, but neither the input boundary conditions nor the flight recorder observations are sufficiently precise for these studies to be interpreted as verification tests of the model predictions.

Williamson, G. G.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Turbulent transport model of a thunderstorm gust front

A second-order closure turbulent model is adopted to predict complex fluid flows; few a priori assumptions about the internal turbulent and mean flow structures are required. The flow simulations are applied to the analysis of local gust fronts generated by rain-cooled outflows from severe thunderstorms. Results of the simulations provide a means for discussing the behavior of an aircraft passing through a thunderstorm-related downdraft.

Teske, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Estimates of the low-level wind shear and turbulence in the vicinity of Kennedy International Airport on 24 June 1975

A study was conducted to estimate the type of wind and turbulence distributions which may have existed at the time of the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 66 while attempting to land. A number of different wind and turbulence profiles are predicted for the site and date of the crash. The morning and mid-afternoon predictions are in reasonably good agreement with magnitude and direction as reported by the weather observer. Although precise predictions cannot be made during the passage of the thunderstorm which coincides with the time of the accident, a number of different profiles which might exist under or in the vicinity of a thunderstorm are presented. The profile that is most probable predicts the mean headwind shear over 100 m (300 feet) altitude change and the average fluctuations about the mean headwind distribution. This combination of means and fluctuations leads to a reasonable probability that the instantaneous headwind shear would equal the maximum value reported in the flight recorder data.

Lewellen, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Wind shear and turbulence around airports

A two part study was conducted to determine the feasibility of predicting the conditions under which wind/turbulence environments hazardous to aviation operations exist. The computer model used to solve the velocity temperature, and turbulence distributions in the atmospheric boundary layer is described, and the results of a parameteric analysis to determine the expected range of wind shear and turbulence to be encountered in the vicinity of airports are given. The second part describes the delineation of an ensemble of aircraft accidents in which low level wind shear and/or turbulence appeared to be causative factors. This set of accidents, encompassing a wide range of meteorological conditions, should prove useful in developing techniques for reconstructing hazardous wind environments for aircraft safety investigation purposes.

Lewellen, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Response of a trailing vortex to axial injection into the core.

It is demonstrated that axial air injection into a core of a vortex can beneficially spread out the vorticity concentrated in it and prematurely age it. It is also shown that the phenomenon is more nearly governed by the momentum flux of injection than by mass flow.

Kantha, H. L.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Investigation of rotor blade tip-vortex aerodynamics

Several aspects of the aerodynamics of rotor blade tip vortices are examined. Two particular categories are dealt with; (1) dynamic loads on a blade passing close to or intersecting a trailing vortex, and (2) the response of the trailing vortex core to changes in the flow. Results for both categories are in reasonable agreement with existing data, although lower pressure gradients were obtained than anticipated for category one. A correlation between trailing edge sweep angle at the tip and vortex core size was noted for category two.

Lewellen, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Qualitative responses of a vortex core to tip blowing and intersecting airfoils

The qualitative responses of a trailing vortex core to change in its convective velocity produced by injection of air into the vortex core and by the flow field of a lifting surface in the path of the core are discussed. Flow pictures of the vortex core and vorticity measurements in the core show that an axial momentum injection of approximately 35% of the total wing drag alters the vortex structure and behavior quite drastically by effectively inducing a more rapid dispersion of the vorticity in the core. The data indicate that the phenomenon is governed by the rate of injection of the momentum rather than the mass flow rate. There also seems to be an optimum rate of injection beyond which increased injection does not bring about equally significant changes in the vortex core. Flow patterns of the region of interaction between the flow field of a lifting surface and the vortex core show two modes of vortex response; (1) the vortex core bends, following the streamline shape until it intercepts the wake of the wing where it is abruptly dispersed, or (2) the vortex core may be sliced into two similar vortices when the vortex hits the leading edge of the wing.

Kantha, H. L.↗