REMOTE WIND VELOCITY SENSING

THE AIRWAKE VELOCITY FIELD IN THE RECOVERY ENVELOPE FOR AVIATION-CAPABLE SHIPS IS EXTREMELY COMPLEX. TURBULENT VORTICES GENERATED BY THE SHIP'S SUPERSTRUCTURE CHANGE DIRECTION AND INTENSITY WITH THE MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION OF THE WIND OVER DECK (WOD) AS WELL AS WITH THE PITCHING AND ROLLING MOTIONS OF THE SHIP. THE CURRENT PRACTICE FOR INSURING SAFE OPERATIONS WITH A PARTICULAR HELICOPTER/SHIP COMBINATION IS TO PERFORM DYNAMIC INTERFACE (DI) TESTING UNDER VARIOUS WOD AND SHIP'S MOTION CONDITIONS. THE PROCESS OF DI TESTING COULD BE EXPEDITED IF THE VELOCITIES IN THE AIRWAKE FIELD COULD BE ACCURATELY MEASURED, MODELED, AND EVEN PREDICTED AT VARIOUS WOD CONDITIONS. PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS TO MEASURE THE AIRWAKE FIELD AROUND SCALE MODELS OF SHIPS USING WIND TUNNELS HAVE PRODUCED QUESTIONABLE RESULTS. COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS HAS ALSO BEEN SUED TO PREDICT THE AIRWAKE FIELD, BUT IT REMAINS TO VALIDATE THE PREDICTIONS WITH FULL-SCALE MEASUREMENTS. REMOTE WIND SENSORS EMPLOYING LASER DOPPLER VELOCIMETRY OFFER PROMISE FOR MAPPING THE FULL-SCALE THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPATIALAND TIME-DEPENDENT AIRWAKE FIELD. TWO OBJECTIVES ARE ADDRESSED BY THIS PROPOSAL: (1) TO DEVELOP A PLAN FOR PROCESSING AND ANALYZING THREE-DIMENSIONAL AIRWAKE DATA COLLECTED WITHIN THE RECOVERY ENVELOP OF AN AIR-CAPABLE SHIP USING A REMOTE WIND SENSOR, AND (2) TO CONSIDER HOW THE PROCESSED DATA COULD BE USED IN ADVANCE OF DI TESTING FOR BOTH REAL-TIME AND NON-REAL-TIME MODELING AND ENGINEERING ANALYSIS OF AIRWAKE DISTURBANCES ON AIRCRAFT.