Wake Vortex Effects Between Urban Air Mobility Aircraft

This study models the wake-induced downwash of an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft
and the wake’s effects on a trailing aircraft’s dynamic stability when intersecting the wake
trail. The Proctor wake vortex model is used to compute the wake-induced downwash over
a 0.8 × 0.8 nautical mile flight area. The model is complemented by core radius growth,
Proctor single phase wake decay, wake propagation, and Lamb wake aging. The wake data
is then stored and loaded to the trailing aircraft as an atmospheric condition to affect the
dynamics. Preliminary simulations include modeling the downwash from multiple UAM
aircraft over the flight area and determining the normalized wake reduction at the ICAO
5 nautical mile separation criteria for a LIGHT aircraft trailing a MEDIUM aircraft.