All rights reserved © 2007 - Combustion Research and Flow Technology, Inc. (CRAFT Tech®).

Plume Overview:

• Missile Plumes

• Aircraft /Rotorcraft Plumes
The plume models in the SPIRITS IR signature model were developed by CRAFT Tech and use simple parabolized methodology. Modern military aircraft employ non-axisymetric nozzle geometries and have passive internal mixing enhancements yielding a plume with highly three-dimensional flow features. 3D aerodynamics and installation effects such as wingtip vortices and pylon wakes impact the downstream plume structure. Accurate plume simulations require modeling the interaction between the air-frame aerodynamics and the exhaust plume. Numerical methodology has involved using the unstructured multi-element framework of the CRUNCH CFD code where the complex air-frame geometry is modeled with tetrahedral cells while the plume region is modeled with hexahedral cells that are efficient in high aspect ratio regions.

  1. Kenzakowski, D.C., Shipman, J.D., Dash, S.M., Markarian, P. Borger, M. and Smith, G., “Increasing Fidelity Of Aircraft Plume IR Signatures,” The 2001 Electromagnetic Code Consortium (EMCC) Annual Meeting, Kauai, Hawaii, 28 May-1 June 2001.
  2. Shipman, J.D., Cavallo, P.A., and Hosangadi, A., “Efficient Simulation of Aircraft Exhaust Plume Flows Using a Multi-Element Unstructured Methodology,” AIAA-2001-0598, 39th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, NV, January 8-11, 2001.
  3. Dash, S.M., Kenzakowski, D.C., and Robertson, D., "Flowfield Modeling Advances and Impact on Air Target Signature Simulation," Proc. 1998 Meeting of the IRIS Specialty Group on Targets, Backgrounds and Discrimination, Hughes Missile Systems Company, Tucson, AZ, Jan 1998.