A Reex amination of the Formation of Exhaust Condensation Trails by Jet Aircraft

摘要

With the end of World War II. it became apparent thai a study should be undertaken to identify the factors controlling the production of aircraft condensation trails (contrails). This early work provided a theoretical prediction of T_c the cntical temperature at which the values of the relative humidity and pressure are such that the formation of the contrail phenomenon will occur As empirical data were obtained- the general agreement at increased altitude was not precise and several studies were made to obtain both theoretical and empirical fits that would provide a "yeso" decision. These modifications did allow a better decision for the formation of contrails but were found to be increasingly inaccurate at greater altitudes. This study providesan improved algorithm that yields 3 theoretical prediction that is in general agreement with the available empirical data at all altitudes. It demonstrates that there is a need for additional effort in the identification and precision of relative humidity and pressure thai are input to this computation.