Happier Landings: To combat the hazards of deck turbulence, aerodynamics experts are working on ways to smooth the airflow

摘要

The conditions in which sea-based military aircraft can operate are pretty limited: extreme waves, high winds, and the swirling currents of air created by the shape of the ships often conspire to make conditions too dangerous for flight. Now, Design Engineering has learned that novel methods of smoothing airflow over warships are being considered by, among others, the MoD and the US Navy, NASA aerodynamics expert Dr John Lamar and engineers from the US office of Naval Research are Investigating the installation of devices called columnar vortex generators (CVGs) on ships.