Adaptation of flight simulator for wind shear

• Main Author: Tay, Deborah Wyn Jie.
• Other Authors: Jorg Uwe Schluter
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Aeronautical engineering::Accidents and air safety
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/44667
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The discussion on wind shear has always been on the minds of many due to its impact on general flight safety. The main subject of this paper, downburst, is the most common form of wind shear that has caused many aircraft incidents in the past. A lot of the current research revolves mainly in the modeling of downburst wind models, be it in two or three dimension. There has yet been much work done on incorporating flight simulators with a wind shear flight environment as a training aid for pilots. This is what this paper would attempt to accomplish: to kick start the efforts in modifying an existing open source flight simulator, Flight Gear with an existing simplified two-dimensional downburst model taken from the Committee of Low- Altitude Wind Shear commissioned by the National Academy of Science. At the same time, this paper would include the comparison between the different types of downburst models that are currently available. An elaborate investigation process would be completed comparing the selected simplified model and a flow pattern that was derived from a turbulence simulation created via FLUENT to showcase the difference in their effects on the aerodynamic properties of an aircraft.