Lichten Runner-Up: A Real-Time Reduced-Order Model for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer Including Roughness Sublayer

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) faces operational challenges because a significant portion of AAM flight operations are likely to occur within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). In particular, terminal flight paths within the ABL roughness sublayer will involve flying through building wakes that will likely result in a considerable increase in significant dynamic and vibratory loads on the vehicle, affecting flight safety and ride quality. A new representative environmental method (REM) has been developed that provides real-time estimates of the unsteady wind environments, including the roughness sublayer. The approach has numerous advantages over computational fluid dynamics solutions of any fidelity, as no meshing is required and it can easily be modified to evaluate the sensitivity of different environmental factors on operations or design. This approach is explained, verified, and validated using computational and experimental data.