Wingtip Vortices Visualized
In flight, airplane wings produce dramatic wingtip vortices. These vortices reduce the amount of lift a 3D wing produces relative to a 2D one. How much they influence the lift Keep reading
Search Results for: wingtip vortices
Wingtip Vortices
Wingtip vortices are the result of high-pressure air from beneath a wing sneaking around the end of the wing to the low-pressure area on top. They trail for long distances Keep reading
4th Birthday: Wingtip Vortices
Wingtip vortices are a result of the finite length of a wing. Airplanes generate lift by having low-pressure air travelling over the top of the wing and higher pressure air Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices
Newton’s third law says that forces come in equal and opposite pairs. This means that when air exerts lift on an airplane, the airplane also exerts a downward force on Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices
Any finite length wing produces wingtip vortices–potentially intense regions of rotational flow downstream of the wing’s ends. These vortices are associated both with the production of lift on the wing Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices in Ground Effect
[original media no longer available] If you’ve ever watched airplane contrails fade, you’ve probably observed the Crow instability, which causes the trailing wingtip vortices of the plane to interact and Keep reading
Discovery Wingtip Vortices
Wingtip vortices mark the path of Discovery as she makes her final landing. Though not always visible, these vortices are generated by any lifting body planform and can be a Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices in Ground Effect
In this flow visualization, wingtip vortices from an aircraft have been simulated using an apparatus with a couple of flaps that snap together like a book closing. Dye is pooled Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices in Flight
This NASA Langley Research Center test shows real-time flow visualization of the wingtip vortices off a C-5A Galaxy aircraft.
Vortices and Ground Effect
Though typically unseen, the vortices that swirl from the tips of aircraft wings are powerful. Here you see a Hawker Sea Fury equipped with a smoke system used to visualize Keep reading