GUSTS AND WIND SHEAR

The variation of wind velocity and direction throughout the atmosphere is important be­cause of its effect on the aerodynamic forces and moments on an airplane. As the airplane traverses this variation of wind velocity and direction during flight, the changes in airflow direction and velocity create changes in the aerodynamic forces and moments and produce a response of the airplane. The variation of airflow velocity along a given direction exists with shear parallel to the flow direction. Hence, the velocity gradients are often re­ferred to as the wind “shear.”

The effect of the vertical gust has important effects on the airplane at high speed because of the possibility of damaging flight loads. The mechanism of vertical gust is illustrated in figure 6.5 where the vertical gust velocity is added vectorially to the flight velocity to produce some resultant velocity. The principal effect of the vertical gust is to produce a change in airplane angle of attack, e. g., a positive (up) gust causes an increase in angle of attack while a negative (down) gust causes a de­crease in angle of attack. Of course, a change in angle of attack will effect a change in lift and, if some critical combination of high gust intensity and high flight speed is encountered, the change in lift may be large enough to cause structural damage.

At low flight speeds during approach, land­ing, and takeoff, the effect of the vertical gust is due to the same mechanism of the change in angle of attack. However, at these low flight speeds, the problem is one of possible incipient stalling and sinking rather than overstress. When the airplane is at high angle of attack, a further increase in angle of attack due to a gust may exceed the critical angle of attack and cause an incipient stalling of the airplane. Also, a decrease in angle of attack due to a gust will cause a loss of lift and allow the airplane to sink. For this reason, any deficiency of airspeed will be quite critical when operating in gusty conditions.

The effect of the horizontal gust differs from the effect of the vertical gust in that the im­mediate effect is a change of airspeed rather than a change in angle of attack. In this sense, the horizontal gust is of little conse­quence in the major airplane airloads and strength limitations. Of greater significance is the response of the airplane to horizontal gusts and wind shear when operating at low flight speeds. The possible conditions in which an airplane may encounter horizontal gusts and wind shear are illustrated in figure 6.5. As the airplane traverses a shear of wind direction, a change in headwind component will exist. Also, a climbing or descending airplane may traverse a shear of wind velocity,

i. e., a wind profile in which the wind velocity varies with altitude.

The response of an airplane is much de­pendent upon the airplane characteristics but certain basic effects are common to all air­planes. Suppose that an airplane is estab­lished in steady, level flight with lift equal to weight, thrust equal to drag, and trimmed so

there is no unbalance of pitching, yawing, or rolling moment. If the airplane traverses a sharp wind shear equivalent to a horizontal gust, the resulting change in airspeed will disturb such an equilibrium. For example, if the airplane encounters a sharp horizontal gust which reduces the airspeed 20percent, the new airspeed (80 percent of the original value} produces lift and drag at the same angle of attack which are 64 percent of the original value. The change in these aerodynamic forces would cause the airplane to accelerate in the direction of resultant unbalance of force. That is, the airplane would accelerate down and forward until a new equilibrium is achieved. In addition, there would be a change in pitching moment which would produce a response of the airplane in pitch.

The response of the airplane to a horizontal gust will differ according to the gust gradient and airplane characteristics. Generally, if the airplane encounters a sharp wind shear which reduces the airspeed, the airplane tends to sink and incur a loss of altitude before equilibrium conditions are achieved. Similarly, if the airplane encounters a sharp wind shear which increases the airspeed, the airplane tends to float and incur a gain of altitude before equilib­rium conditions are achieved.

Significant vertical and horizontal gusts may be due to the terrain or atmospheric conditions. The proximity’of an unstable front or thunder­storm activity in the vicinity of the airfield is likely to create significant wind shear and gust activity at low altitude. During gusty condi­tions every effort must be made for precise con­trol of airspeed and flight path and any changes due to gusts must be corrected by proper con­trol action. Under extreme gusts conditions, it may be advisable to utilize approach, land­ing, and takeoff speeds slightly greater than normal to provide margin for adequate control.