A Study on the Methodology for Assessment of Safe Operating Envelope on Light Aircraft Carrier Using CFD Modeling Database of Flight Deck Air-wake

This study aims to evaluate the safe operating envelope (SOE) for light aircraft carriers using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling database of flight deck air-wake. Assessing the SOE is crucial for ensuring the safe operation of carrier-based aircraft, particularly during take-off and landing maneuvers. Traditional methods that only consider relative wind envelopes (RWE) provide basic information but fail to account for the complex airflow patterns over the flight deck. To address this limitation, this research utilizes CFD to analyze the air-wake and integrate these findings into the SOE assessment. Various studies on CFD modeling of airflow around naval ships and aircraft carriers were reviewed, confirming the importance of accurate airflow databases for operational safety. This study employs the KRISO-CVX1 model, a light aircraft carrier designed by the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO), to demonstrate the application of CFD data in SOE evaluations. The methodology involves a detailed analysis of turbulent flow and thermal fields around the carrier deck under different wind speed, direction, and ship speed conditions. The results indicate significant variations in air-wake characteristics depending on the relative wind speed and direction, impacting the operational safety of carrier-based aircraft. This study emphasizes the need for incorporating CFD-based airflow data into SOE assessments to enhance the accuracy and reliability of operational safety evaluations for aircraft carriers. In conclusion, the integration of CFD air-wake modeling databases provides a more comprehensive approach to assessing the SOE, offering improved safety margins for carrier-based aircraft operations. This research is expected to contribute to the development of more robust and precise operational guidelines for naval aviation.