Noncirculatory Force on a Finite Thickness Body Encountering a Gust

What is it about?

Gusts interacting with drones, helicopters and even planes can lead to large and rapidly changing forces. To prevent damage to equipment and passengers the resulting forces need to be counteracted. This is often done with the help of simple models that split the acting force into individual contributions. This paper investigates the true origin of these force components, to prevent them from accidently being considered more than once. To this end, experiments are performed around a simple circular cylinder in a water tank, where the cylinder is towed through a simplified and idealised transverse gust.

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