Atmospheric Turbulence Avoidance

Anyone who has experienced turbulence in flight knows that it is usually not pleasant, and may wonder why this is so difficult to avoid. The book includes papers by various aviation turbulence researchers and provides background into the nature and causes of atmospheric turbulence that affect aircraft motion, and contains surveys of the latest techniques for remote and in situ sensing and forecasting of the turbulence phenomenon. It provides updates on the state-of-the-art research since earlier studies in the 1960s on clear-air turbulence, explains recent new understanding into turbulence generation by thunderstorms, and summarizes future challenges in turbulence prediction and avoidance.

The book is a concise guide dealing with the subject of air turbulence and its methods of detection with particular applications to aviation turbulence. It begins with a general description of turbulence and provides a background into the nature and causes of atmospheric turbulence that affect aircraft motion, giving updates on the state-of-the-art research on clear air turbulence (CAT). Important physical processes leading to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, a primary producer of CAT, are also explained. The several categories of CAT along with its impact on commercial aviation are also presented in a separate chapter, with particular emphasis on the structural damages to planes and injuries. The central theme of the book deals with both the earlier and the latest CAT detecting methods and techniques for remote and in situ sensing and forecasting. A concise presentation of new technologies for reducing aviation weather-related accidents is also offered. A chapter on the weather accident prevention project of the NASA aviation safety program is also included. Additionally, the book ends with a full description of the recent research activities on CAT and future challenges in turbulence detection, prediction and avoidance.

Turbulence-the randomly disordered movement of volumes of air of widely varying size-is one of the characteristic features of atmospheric air flows; its investigation is essential for the solution of several theoretical and practical problems. Until recently, owing to experimental difficulties, research on turbu lence was confmed mainly to the lower half of the troposphere. Theoretical investigations have consequently been based on these data. The rapid development of high-altitude aviation and cases of aircraft encoun tering hazardous turbulence led to a sharp intensification of research on turbu lence in the atmosphere up to 10-12 km, and subsequently at greater altitudes. Such research was confined initially to the characterization of the frequency of occurrence of gusts of different speeds, their relation to altitude, geographical conditions, time of day and year, and so on. At the end of the fifties, when the required measuring equipment and experimental techniques had been developed, it became possible to investigate the complete statistical characteristics of turbu lence: the spectral densities of the velocity fluctuations of air flows, structure functions, etc. These data stimulated the further development of theory related to the specific conditions of the free atmosphere.

Clear air turbulence encounters can occur unexpectedly without any visual evidence or warning. As operations of higher altitude aircraft increase, the phenomenon is encountered more often. Clear air turbulence is defined as 'all turbulence in the free atmosphere of interest in aerospace operations that is not in or adjacent to visible convective activity (this includes turbulence found in cirrus clouds not in or adjacent to visible convective activity).' This bibliography consists of 578 references to technical reports, articles in periodicals, and books published during the past 17 years. References about other forms of turbulence such as that occurring with storms and airplane wake vortices are not included. (Author).