This image of a Cessna Citation jet was taken by air-to-air photographer Paul Bowen. I think the contrast of the aircraft’s orderly shape and the chaos that is beneath it is interesting. This image also does a great job of illustrating wingtip vortices. An aircraft’s wing generates lift by creating a pressure differential above and below the wing. At the wingtips, the high pressure air from below the wing spills over the tip of the wing and into the low pressure region, creating vortices. These vortices get stronger as the aircraft gets heavier and slower, and generally follow the aircraft’s path, sinking at 400-500 fpm. They can be hard to visualize, but are important for pilots to understand because they cause wake turbulence. Flying into wake turbulence can lead to uncontrollable roll of the aircraft, structural damage, and the pilot losing control of the aircraft; all of which can be dangerous, especially near the ground.
Best of Web // David Kuchta
Categories
- 2021 Fall (219)
- Admin (5)
- Flow Categories (1,008)
- Clouds (388)
- Altocumulus (60)
- Altocumulus Lenticularis (72)
- Altostratus (50)
- Atmospheric Optical Phenomena (7)
- Anticrepuscular Rays (1)
- Crepuscular Rays (4)
- Banner Cloud (1)
- Cirrocumulus (11)
- Cirrostratus (14)
- Cirrus (34)
- Contrail (9)
- Cumulonimbus (9)
- Cumulus (51)
- Cumulus Congestus (6)
- Foehn Cloud Wall (7)
- Fog (6)
- Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves (7)
- Mountain Wave (85)
- Nighttime (3)
- Nimbostratus (4)
- Radiatus (2)
- Stratocumulus (96)
- Stratus (14)
- Sunrise (24)
- Sunset (83)
- Undulatus (15)
- Combustion/Explosions (67)
- Fire: Partially Premixed/Turbulent Flames (35)
- Ignition (6)
- Premixed flame (4)
- Rubin's Tube (6)
- Sparks (9)
- Convective Cell (4)
- Ferrofluid (34)
- Fluid-Structure Interaction (15)
- Mixing (55)
- Nondiffusive (25)
- Turbulence (13)
- Multiphase (317)
- Foams and Soap Bubbles (46)
- Hydraulic Jump (5)
- Ice (12)
- Leidenfrost (13)
- Lensing (12)
- Liquids in Air (51)
- Rising Bubbles (30)
- Smoke and Fog (53)
- Soap Films (23)
- Splashes (74)
- Worthington Jet (27)
- Sprays (17)
- Surface Tension (69)
- Water Surface (30)
- NonNewtonian (47)
- Kaye Effect and Rope Coiling (14)
- Oobleck (22)
- Paint (5)
- Plumes and Drops (91)
- Buoyant (10)
- Negatively Buoyant (39)
- Rayleigh-Taylor Instability (52)
- Saffman-Taylor Instability (27)
- Vortexes (75)
- Bathtub Drain (4)
- Spiral Vortex View (19)
- Vortex Ring (38)
- Vortex Side View (21)
- Wakes, Jets, Shear (63)
- Waves (21)
- Clouds (388)
- Flow Vis Techniques (427)
- Chemiluminescence (29)
- Fluorescence (14)
- Marked Area (201)
- Laser Sheet (8)
- Particle Tracks (11)
- Refractive Index (118)
- Rheoscopic Fluid (10)
- Slow Motion (28)
- Thermal Emission (45)
- Thin Film Interference (21)
- Time Lapse (9)
- Wall Shear (8)
- flow visualization (1)
- Media (757)
- No category (91)
- z Class & Assignment (2,185)
- 2013 (278)
- 2013 Spring Clouds First (47)
- 2013 Spring Clouds Second (46)
- 2013 Spring Get Wet (48)
- 2013 Spring Team First (46)
- 2013 Spring Team Second (45)
- 2013 Spring Team Third (46)
- 2014 (254)
- 2014 Clouds First (43)
- 2014 Clouds Second (42)
- 2014 Get Wet (43)
- 2014 Team First (43)
- 2014 Team Second (41)
- 2014 Team Third (42)
- 2015 (247)
- 2015 Clouds First (42)
- 2015 Clouds Second (41)
- 2015 Get Wet (41)
- 2015 Team First (41)
- 2015 Team Second (41)
- 2015 Team Third (41)
- 2016 (275)
- 2016 Best of Web (47)
- 2016 Clouds First (38)
- 2016 Clouds Second (38)
- 2016 Get Wet (38)
- 2016 Team First (38)
- 2016 Team Second (38)
- 2016 Team Third (38)
- 2018 Fall (235)
- 2018 Fall Best of Web (36)
- 2018 Fall Clouds First (33)
- 2018 Fall Clouds Second (33)
- 2018 Fall Get Wet (34)
- 2018 Fall Team First (34)
- 2018 Fall Team Second (32)
- 2018 Fall Team Third (33)
- 2018 Spring (423)
- 2019 Fall (304)
- 2019 Extra Images (3)
- 2019 Fall Best of Web (44)
- 2019 Fall Clouds First (43)
- 2019 Fall Clouds Second (43)
- 2019 Fall Get Wet (43)
- 2019 Fall Team First (43)
- 2019 Fall Team Second (43)
- 2019 Fall Team Third (42)
- 2020 Fall (172)
- 2020 Fall Best of Web (29)
- 2020 Fall Clouds First (29)
- 2020 Fall Clouds Second (20)
- 2020 Fall Image-Video 1 (29)
- 2020 Fall Image-Video 2 (29)
- 2020 Fall Image-Video 3 (28)
- 2020 Fall Image-Video 4 (9)
- 2013 (278)
Flow Vis Guidebook
Flow Vis Guidebook
- Introduction to the Guidebook
- Overview 1: Phenomena. Why Does It Look Like That?
- Overview 2: Visualization Techniques
- Overview 3: Lighting
- Overview 4 - Photography A: Composition and Studio Workflow
- Overview 4 - Photography B: Cameras
- Overview 4 - Photography C: Lenses - Focal Length
- Overview 4 - Photography C: Lenses - Aperture and DOF
- Overview 4: Photography D: Exposure
- Overview 4 - Photography E - Resolution
- Overview 5 - Post-Processing
- Clouds 1: Names
- Clouds 2: Why Are There Clouds?
- Boundary Techniques - Introduction
- Dye Techniques 1 - Do Not Disturb
- Dye Techniques 2 - High Visibility
- Dye Techniques 3 - Light Emitting Fluids
- Photons, Wavelength and Color
- Refractive Index Techniques
- Art and Science
- TOC and Zotpress test
1 Comment. Leave new
David this is sweet! I choose this for second place best of web 2020.
I had no idea wingtips creates these vortices, thanks for also briefly describing the science / engineering behind it!