Numerical study on General Aircraft Carrier (GAC) Burble For different ski jump angles

The landing of aircraft on an aircraft carrier is regarded as one of the most dangerous and difficult tasks in ship-aircraft interaction. Huge vortices are formed behind the stern when the on-coming winds interact with the ship’s superstructure and deck equipment. The wake field is characterized by a considerable velocity gradient, a largely varying turbulent length scale, and a downwash field. This phenomenon is known as the “burble effect.” This may create uneven pressure distribution on the wings, control surfaces of the landing aircraft, and increase the pilot’s workload. The burble effect, (which is mostly caused by air wake formed by bluff bodies such as the ski jump, hull, and superstructure), is one of the principal causes of a huge number of aircraft accidents onboard the carrier vessel. This paper investigates the effect of burble on a General Aircraft Carrier (GAC) with different ski jump angles (7, 10, 12 degrees). The effect of burble is analyzed numerically by estimating turbulent intensity (I) over the landing zone of the carrier for various ski jumps. The numerical closure was achieved using the SST k-ω turbulence model in commercial software STAR CCM+. It was observed that the change in the angle of the ski jump does create disturbance over the landing region and affects the burble at the aft of the vessel.