Using Turbulence in Flight

When small, heavy particles are in a turbulent flow, they settle faster than in a quiescent one. Their interactions with turbulent eddies sweep them along, extracting energy that lengthens their overall path but reduces the time necessary for them to fall. Using the same principles, researchers are finding ways for rotorcraft and other vehicles to extract energy from turbulence for more efficient flight.

The technique forces a vehicle to behave like a heavy particle by sensing turbulent gusts from its own accelerations and adding forcing to those accelerations when they are in the desired direction of flight. In essence, the vehicle uses the turbulence of its surroundings to find helpful tailwinds. (Image credit: A. Soggetti; research and submission credit: S. Bollt and G. Bewley)