The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is charged with the responsibility to enhance aviation safety through improving understanding of various atmospheric phenomena. A brief discussion is presented concerning the tasks and work being accomplished by MSFC. The tasks are defined as follows: (1) to determine and define the turbulence and steady wind environments induced by buildings, towers, hills, trees, etc., (2) to identify, develop, and apply natural environment technology for the reconstruction and/or simulation of the natural environment for aircraft accident investigation and hazard identification, (3) to develop basic information about free atmosphere perturbations, (4) to develop and apply fog modification mathematical models to assess candidate fog modification schemes and to develop appropriate instrumentation to aquire basic data about fog. To accomplish these tasks MSFC has developed a program involving field data acquisition, wind tunnel studies, theoretical studies, data analysis, and flight simulation studies

Camp, D. W.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

OVERVIEW OF NASA/MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CEIqTER'S PROGRAM 
ON KNOWLEDGE OF ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES 
Dennis W .  Camp 
Atmospheric Sciences Divis ion 
Space Sciences Laboratory 
Marshall  Space F l i g h t  Center 
I .  In t roduct ion  
The Marshall Space F l i g h t  Center (MSFC) i s  charged 
with t h e  r e s p o n s i b i l i t y  of con t r ibu t ing  t o  advances i n  
a v i a t i o n  s a f e t y  through improved understanding of var ious  
atmospheric phenomena. To m e e t  t h i s  r e s p o n s i b i l i t y ,  a 
four  p a r t  s p e c i f i c  o b j e c t i v e  has  been defined and i s  being 
pursued by MSFC. This o b j e c t i v e  i s  t h e  d e f i n i t i o n ,  
modeling, and s imula t ion  of s t e a d y- s t a t e  wind and tu rbu l-  
ence environments f o r  (1) a id ing  a i r c r a f t  accident  
i n v e s t i g a t i o n s ;  (2)  a s sess ing  a i r c r a f t  opera t ing  
hazards;  ( 3 )  advancing fundamental knowledge of t h e  e f f e c t s  
of bui ldings and t h e  landscape on low level atmospheric winds; 
and ( 4 )  enhancing t h e  n a t u r a l  environment design c r i t e r i a  
re la t ive  t o  ae ronau t i ca l  system design.  To accomplish t h e  
o b j e c t i v e ,  four  b a s i c  t a sks  have been defined.  The f i r s t  
of t h e s e  t a sks  i s  t o  determine and de f ine  t h e  turbulence 
and s t e a d y- s t a t e  wind environments induced by bu i ld ings ,  
towers,  h i l l s ,  t r e e s ,  e t c . ,  over and around a i r p o r t s .  
The information developed as a r e s u l t  of t h i s  t a s k  could 
be very b e n e f i c i a l  f o r  o the r  loca t ions  a l s o .  The second 
t a s k  i s  t o  i d e n t i f y ,  develop, and apply n a t u r a l  environment 
technology f o r  t h e  r econs t ruc t ion  and/or  s imula t ion  of t h e  
n a t u r a l  environment f o r  a i r c r a f t  acc iden t  i n v e s t i g a t i o n  
and hazard i d e n t i f i c a t i o n .  Task t h r e e  i s  t o  develop b a s i c  
a 
28 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19780011771 2020-03-20T13:13:56+00:00Z
information about free atmosphere perturbations. The 
fourth task is to develop and apply fog modification 
mathematical models to assess candidate fog modification 
schemes and to develop appropriate instrumentation to 
acquire basic data about fogs. 
a well-rounded program involving field data acquisition, 
wind tunnel studies, theoretical studies, data analysis, 
and flight simulation studies. In the following sections, 
a brief discussion will be presented concerning the tasks 
and work being accomplished by MSFC both inhouse and 
under contract relative to these tasks. 
To accomplish these four tasks, MSFC has developed 
11. Definition of Induced Wind Environments 
As seen in Figure 1, this task has a twofold objective; 
namely that of the determination and definition of turbul- 
ence and steady-state environments induced by obstructions 
such as buildings, towers, hills, trees, etc., and to 
apply the first part of the objective to defining aircraft 
operating hazards. The immediate goal for the task 
objective is first to determine capability and reliability 
of mathematical and experimentally derived models. A 
second goal is the comparison of full scale and wind tunnel 
results. 
The first goal is being performed as a combined 
effort by NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center and University 
of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) personnel. Many 
articles on results of this work have been reported in 
various publications (Refs. 1-6). 
MSFC personnel are responsible for the data collection 
and initial data reduction and are assisting UTSI personnel 
with the data analysis. Two items are of prime importance 
from the effort with UTSI. These are the wind environment 
definition and a computer simulation of aircraft dynamics 
29 
Figure 1 
i n  var iab le  wind f i e l d s .  Since, as indicated above, many 
a r t i c l e s  have been published on these  e f f o r t s , n o  indepth 
discussion w i l l  be made. However, a few remarks are i n  
order  concerning the  work. 
ment program i s  being conducted a t  MSFC's eight- tower 
f a c i l i t y .  Figure 2 i s  a p i c t o r i a l  i l l u s t r a t i o n  of t h i s  
f a c i l i t y .  From t h i s  f i g u r e ,  i t  can be seen t h a t  the  
t e r r a i n  i s  q u i t e  f l a t ,  l e s s  than one (1) meter var ia t ions  
from the  l o w  t o  the  high l e v e l ,  and has few na tu ra l  
obst ruct ions  which could inf  h e n c e  the  flow. 
The fu l l - sca l e  f i e l d  measure- 
30 
MSFC ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER F A C I L I T Y  
Road 
Fence 
I 
I .. n n , 3. ,- n Y 
I’ Note: All Dimensions are in Meters 
Figure 2 
The wind tunnel effort accomplished so far has been 
done by the Colorado State University. A discussion of 
this effort is given in Reference 4 .  The wind tunnel 
effort so far has been priniarily concerned with modeling 
the full scale (eight-tower) facility, conducting wind 
tunnel tests on the model, and making a flow visualization 
study . 
31 
The wind tunnel effort accomplished s o  far has been 
done by the Colorado State University. 
this effort is given in Reference4. The wind tunnel effort 
s o  far has been primarily concerned with modeling the 
full scale (eight-tower) facility, conducting wind tunnel 
tests on the model, and making 
This wind tunnel effort is t o  be continued at the Arizona 
State University with the prime emphasis being to make 
a comparison study of the wind tunnel results to the full 
scale results. Arizona State University is to seek the 
answer to the question,"Can wind tunnel modeling be used 
to qualitatively and/or quantitatively model wakes from 
buildings and natural obstacles?" 
A discussion of 
a flow visualization study. 
111. Natural Environment Reconstruction for Accident and 
Operating Hazard Investigation 
Figure 3 presents an overview of this specific task. 
However, a few comments are in order with regard to the 
present status of the effort, who is accomplishing the 
work, and what are the future plans. The two objectives 
of this task are (1) the determination of those aspects 
of the natural environment which result in aircraft 
incidents, and (2) the examination of natural environment 
conditions to determine those conditions which pose 
hazards to aircraft operations. As seen in Figure 3, 
there are three goals .for this task. Namely, the develop- 
ment of a nonhomogeneous turbulence simulation model, the 
reconstruction of natural wind environment for a selected 
set of aircraft accidents, and the identification of 
needed atmospheric technology development. 
In order to accomplish the goals there are at present 
three efforts being performed under contract. The 
Pennsylvania State University is conducting an investigation 
of the nighttime stable boundary layer. This effort will 
32 
r e su l t  i n  the development of a mathematical model for  
the nighttime s tab le  boundary layer.  
NATURl% EN'VI- RMIONSTRUCI'IGN FOR ACCIDENT AND 
OPERATING HAZAI?D INVESTIGATION 
TASK OBJICI'IVEs 
. D m m T I o N  OF THOSE ASPECTS OF THE NATURAL 
ENVI- WHICH RESULTS I N  AIEacRAFT INCIDENTS 
*EXMRWTION OF NATUR?G E3WIRoE;pIENT CONDITIONS n> 
lEIERMINE THOGE CONDITIONS WHICH POSE ElAZARDS 'ID 
AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS 
RElllTED EFFOKr 
*PROGRAM To PROVIDE 'WIND SHEAE PROFILES FOR HAZIWD 
DEFINITION 
F igu re  3 
The second e f fo r t  i s  being performed by the Aero- 
naut ical  Research Associates of Princeton, Inc. Specific- 
a l l y ,  t h i s  e f fo r t  has as i t s  purpose t o  perform an analysis 
of wind shear and turbulence present a t  the time of several  
a i r c r a f t  accidents (Ref. 7 ) .  The accidents were invest i-  
gated using a one-dimensional, unsteady planetary boundary 
layer model and/or a two-dimensional model. 
from t h i s  analysis were compared with the available recorded 
data from the National Transportation Safety Board (ZJTSB) 
o r  the National Weather Service (NWS). References 7-9 present 
The re su l t s  
1 
33 
some of the results of this effort. 
effort is to use the existing two-dimensional transport 
model to perform calculations for both warm fronts and 
the cold gust front created by the cold outflow from a 
thunderstorm. The goal of the calculations is to determine 
what boundary conditions lead to the strongest wind shear 
within 500 meters of the surface. 
of Dayton Research Institute and is concerned with 
the build-up of ice and/or frost on the surface of an 
aircraft. Specifically, the effort is to perform a 
parametric analysis to assess the amount of water vapor 
which will sublimate onto aircraft during the roll-out, 
take-off, and climb-out flight phases. The analysis is 
to be restircted to the winds and shall be performed with 
dimensional techniques such that the results are appli- 
cable to a variety of aircraft and can be summarized in 
nondimensional form. Like the first effort, this is a 
new undertaking,and no results have as yet been reported. 
A related effort, concerning operating hazards, is 
also being performed. This one is a joint effort between 
the MSFC and FWG Associates, Inc., and is being conducted 
for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This effort 
has as a general requirement the development of a 
comprehensive set of wind profiles and associated wind 
shear characteristics which encompass the full range of 
wind shear environments, potentially encounterable by 
aircraft in the terminal area and to provide the mathe- 
matical wind shear scenario in a form for direct 
engineering application. The initial results of this 
effort have been submitted to the FAA (Ref. 10) for 
publication. The report presents a discussion of the 
various types of wind shear which cause problems to aircraft 
operations. In the report it is noted that the condition 
The next phase of this 
The third effort is being conducted at the University 
34 
af fec t ing  a i r c r a f t  operations i s  not  one shear parameter 
but a combination of severa l ;  f o r  example, 
hor izonta l  shear ,  v e r t i c a l  shear ,  wind d i r ec t ion  change, 
and height of shear above ground level. 
I V .  Atmospheric Perturbat ions 
Atmospheric perturbat ions include such phenomena as 
wind gus t s ,  wind turbulence, thunderstorms, etc.  The 
object ives ,  goals ,  and e f f o r t s  of t h i s  t ask  are noted 
i n  Figure 4 .  As seen,  the  object ives a r e , f i r s t ,  t o  
develop bas ic  information about atmospheric perturbat ions 
and turbulence i n  the  lower 18 kilometers of the  atmos- 
phere and ,second, t o  analyze v e r t i c a l  wind ve loc i t i e s  
and t h e i r  re la t ionsh ip  t o  aeronaut ica l  operat ions.  As  
a r e s u l t  of these two ob jec t ives ,  th ree  goals were 
established. These are,  f i r s t ,  t o  complete the  determin- 
a t ion  of the  i n t e n s i t y ,  t i m e  of occurrence, and prevai l-  
ing conditions r e l a t i v e  t o  the  peak v e r t i c a l  gus t ;  
secondly, t o  complete Richardson number s t a t i s t i c s  and 
comparison of c r i t i c a l  Richardson number exceedance 
probabi l i t i e s  with clear a i r  turbulence occurrence 
s t a t i s t i c s ;  and, t h i r d l y ,  an analysis  of dynamic response 
Character is t ics  of balloons t o  c l ea r  a i r  turbulence. 
The f i r s t  of the  goals i s  being accomplished inhouse, 
and i t  i s  expected t h a t  a repor t  documenting t h i s  work 
will: be published by the  f a l l  of 1977.  The data  f o r  t h i s  
workwere obtained from the  150 meter meteorological tower 
f a c i l i t y  located a t  the  Kennedy Space Cgnter, Flor ida  
(Refs. 11 arid 1 2 ) .  
on the  second goal under contract  t o  the  NASA/Marshall 
Space F l igh t  Center. It i s  t o  be noted t h a t  parameters 
other  than Richardson number are a l so  being invest igated.  
Like’the f i r s t  goal ,  i t  i s  expected t h a t  a documented repor t  
concerning t h i s  work w i l l  be forthcoming i n  the  l a t t e r  p a r t  
of 1977.  
The University of Dayton Research I n s t i t u t e  is  working 
35 
ATMOSPHERIC PEfcr[JRBATIONS (GUSTS, TURBULENCE, 
THUND-RMS, E x o )  
TASK OasECTIvES 
*DEVELX>P BASIC INFOREIATION ABOUT ATWSPHERIC 
PERCURBATIONS AND 
AW- 
*ANALYZE VEZtTIcAI; WIPD VEXLCITIES AND THEIR 
RELATIONSHIP TO AERONAUTICAL OPERATIONS 
I N  THE FIRST 18 ICM OF 
I G Q A L S  
*DETEBMDE INTENSITY, TIME OF K!CUI?P., AND 
*DIITEF3ENE IN'I!ENSITY DETERMnIE S ~ T I S T I C S  AND 
PFEXAILING CONDITIONS RELATIVE TO PEAK VEXTICAL 
GUST DA!lA 
CWARISOP? OF VARIOUS CRITICAL A?P.IOSPHERIC PARAEETFR 
MCJiEDAPICE PROBZBILITIES WITH TURBTJLEWl2 OCCURRENCE 
STATISTICS 
PETl3O~IQGICAL SENSOR TO A?MCXSPHERIC PE27KRBATIONS 
*ANALYSIS OF DYNAMIC RESPONSE -JSTICS OF 
I m m s  
*ANALYSIS OF FLIGHT PROFILE DATA FORMXONAUTICAL 
SYSTE2.1 SAFETY 
.INTM;RATING%PPER AND IDER ADDSPHERIC WIND PROFILES 
AND S'CATISTICS 
.ANALYZE FRE& AT43SPHERIC PFRIUB?iTION AND TURBULENX 
.m LEVEL WIND ANALYSIS 
L 
F i g u r e  4 
The t h i r d  goal  of t h i s  t a s k  was accomplished under 
con t rac t  t o  t h e  NASA/MSFC by Science Appl ica t ions ,  Inc .  
This work i s  documented i n  Reference 13 .  No a d d i t i o n a l  
work f o r  t h i s  goal  i s  a n t i c i p a t e d  a t  t h i s  t i m e ,  
There are,  as seen i n  Figure 4 ,  four  e f f o r t s  f o r  t h i s  
t a s k .  
inhouse and under c o n t r a c t  by var ious  organiza t ions .  
V. Fog I n v e s t i g a t i o n  and Studies  
S i m i l a r  t o  t h e  o t h e r  t a s k s ,  t h e  one concerned wi th  
fog i s  being accomplished by e f f o r t s  of inhouse personnel 
as w e l l  as under c o n t r a c t .  
t h e r e  are t h r e e  task o b j e c t i v e s .  These are ,  f i r s t ,  t o  
t o  develop a haze n u c l e i  coun te r ,  second, t o  develop a 
numerical fog program f o r  parametr ic  s t u d i e s ,  
These e f f o r t s  a r e  p resen t ly  being worked on both 
From Figure 5 i t  can be seen 
I I  
'r 
36 
a 
and third, to conduct a field study on the effect of 
turbulence to the life cycle of fog. The objectives are 
being conducted by inhouse personnel, the University of 
Alabamain Huntsville, and the University of Tennessee 
Space Institute, respectively. 
Since the first and third objectives are relatively 
new no publications have been generated as yet on them. 
However, an excellent paper has been written on the second 
objective (see Reference 1 4 ) .  This paper presents a 
discussion of a mathematical model for the formation, 
development, and dissipation of advection warm fog. 
FOG INVESTIGATIONS AND STUDIES 
*DEVEIDP HAZE NUUXI COUNTER 
*DEVELDP NUMERICAL FOG MODIFICATION PAOGRAM FOR 
PAFtmEmIC STVDIES 
*CONDUCT FIELD STUDY ON THF EFFECT OF 
TO THE LIFE CYQ;E OF FOG 
GQAT;s 
'INVESTIGATE THE EFFWT OF TO THE LIFE 
*DE;TERMRIJE DROP S I Z E  DIST€UBUTION OF FOG NUCLEI 
'DEXEUIPMENT OF NuQ;EI CCXTNTER FOR USE I N  FIELD STUDY 
*DETER!IINE NUMERICAT, SIMULATION OF FOG 
CYCLEOFFOG 
EFFOlZTS 
.LAEO~TORY STUDIES OF NUCLEI GENEEATION AND USE OF 
*DEVEUXIIENT OF HAZE Nu%LEI 
LASER TYPE TFWiSMISS- FOR DROP SIZE 
DISTRIBUTION STUDIES 
*NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF * FOG 
RETATED El?Fol?!r 
*pmPOSED LIDAR TECHNIQUE FOR OBTAINING SLANT RANGE 
V I S I B I L I T Y  MEASUHFMENTS 
F igu re  5 
It is expected that the third objective will be well 
under way by the summer of 1977. 
conducted at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, 
specifically the area over and around Woods Reservoir. 
of Tennessee Space Institute, is to conduct a feasibility 
study relative to a lidar technique for obtaining slant 
range visibility measurements. It is expected this effort 
will be initiated in the summer of 1977. 
This objective will be 
A related effort, proposed by personnel of the University 
38 
REFERENCES 
1. 
2 .  
3 .  
4 .  
5 .  
6. 
7 .  
F i c h t l ,  G.H., D.W. Camp, and W .  F ros t ,  "Sources of low- 
l eve l  wind shear around a i rpo r t s ."  
V o l .  14 ,  N o .  1, January 1977 ,  pp. 5-14. 
Fros t ,  W . ,  "Review of data  and predic t ion techniques f o r  wind 
p ro f i l e s  around manmade surface obst ruct ions ."  AGARD 
Conference Proceedings, No. 140 on F l igh t  i n  Turbulence, 
Woburn Abbey, U . K . ,  May 1973. 
B i t t e ,  J .  and W. F ros t ,  "Atmospheric Flow over two-dimen- 
s iona l  b luff  surface obst ruct ions ."  NASA Contractor Report 
No. CR-2750, Marshall Space F l igh t  Center, Alabama, October 
1976.  
Woo, H . G . C . ,  J . A .  Peterka, and J . E .  Cermak, "Wind-tunnel 
measurements i n  the  wakes of s t ruc tu re s .  I' NASA Contractor 
Report No. CR-2806, Marshall Space F l igh t  Center, Alabama, 
March 1977.  
F ros t ,  W., G.H.  F i c h t l ,  J . R .  Connell, and M.L. Hutto, 
"Mean hor izonta l  wind p ro f i l e s  measured i n  the atmospheric 
boundary layer  about a simulated block building.  I' Paper 
presented a t  the  Second U.S. National Conference o n  Wind 
Engineering, Colorado S ta te  Universi ty,  Boulder, Colorado, 
June 1975. 
F ros t ,  I?. , and A.M. Shahabi, "A f i e l d  study of wind over a 
simulated block building."  
Marshall Space F l igh t  Center, Alabama, March 1977.  
Williamson, G.G., W.S. Lewellen, and M.E Teske, "Model 
predic t ion of wind and turbulence p r o f i l e s  associated with 
an ensemble of a i r c r a f t  accidents."  To be published as a 
NASA Contractor Report, Marshall Space Fl ight  Center, Alabama, 
1977.  
Journal  o f  A i r c ra f t ,  
NASA Contractor Report CR-2804, 
39 
8.  Lewellen, W.S., G.G. Williamson, and M.E. Teske, "Estimates 
of the low-level wind shear and turbulence in the vicinity 
of Kennedy International Airport on June 24, 1975." 
NASA Contractor Report No. CR-2751, Marshall Space Flight 
Center, Alabama, October 1976. 
9. Lewellen, W.S., and G . G .  Williamson, "Wind shear and 
turbulence around airports." 
CR-2752, Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, October 
1976. 
10. Frost, W., and D.W. Camp, "Wind shear modeling for aircraft 
NASA Contractor Report No. 
hazard definition." 
Aviation Administration, Inter-Agency Agreement No. 
DOT-FA76WA1-620, March 1977. 
Interim report submitted to Federal 
11. Kaufman, J . W .  and L.F.  Keene, "NASA's 150-meter meteoro- 
logical tower located at Kennedy Space Center, Florida." 
NASA TMX-53699, January 1968. 
12. Tarver, W.B., T.E. Owen, and D.W. Camp, "An automatic 
data acquisition system for the150-meter ground winds 
tower facility, Kennedy Space Center. If NASA TMX-64708, 
September, 1972. 
13. Tatom, F.B. and R.L. King, "Determination of constant- 
volume balloon capabilities for aeronautical research. '' 
To be published as a NASA Contractor Report for NASA 
Contract No. NAS8-31173. 
14. Hung, R.J. and O.H. Vaughan, "Numerical simulation of life 
cycles of advection warm fog." AIAA Paper No. 77-130, 
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1977. 
40 


Overview of NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center's program on knowledge of atmospheric processes

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