The aerodynamic ground effect encountered by carrier-based aircraft during carrier landings was studied and compared with the ground effect present during traditional field-based landings. While ground effect increases smoothly during field-based landings, these aerodynamic effects increase abruptly during a carrier landing as the aircraft crosses the ship's stern. The objective of this study was to quantify this abrupt ground effect (AGE) for the F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computations of the F/A-18E aircraft were performed to determine ground effect increments for both field-based and ship-based landing types. Results were compared with the existing baseline ground effects contained in the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) F/A-18E/F aerodynamic model. In addition, six degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations were conducted to quantify differences. Simulated carrier approaches were conducted using the Automatic Carrier Landing System control mode. The results show that there is negligible change in touchdown location when the CFD-derived ground effect model is enhanced with AGE. Although this study shows that AGE is negligible with the F/A-18E aircraft, further study is required to determine AGE sensitivity on other aircraft types.
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