Wing Spirals On Aircraft

[ZooNamedGames]

Might be better suited as a mod but meh- I just think whatever causes this- 

to be added in some fashion as it looks awesome.

[worir4]

I believe that is wake turbulence.

It can be a problem for aircraft behind another especially on take off and landing.

You can't normally see it though. In that picture there must have been some fog in the air, but on a normal day it is invisible. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake_turbulence

 

Also cool thing i noticed once. (Not sure if it the same thing) 

Next time you make some tea (or coffee) drag the spoon through the liquid and on either side of the spoon you can see similar vortex in the liquid.

Edited January 9, 2017 by worir4

[adsii1970]

I see effects like that and I immediately think, "and how much will that slow my frame rate?"

[Enceos]

Those are called "Wingtip vortices". I believe with KSP devs can use the current AeroFX to simulate them on the outermost edges of the crafts. The same which is used for reentry and supersonic speed effects. They'll be straight though, no bending, but they can be shorter and that will still look awesome.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Enceos
Wrong terminology

[HalcyonSon]

22 minutes ago, Enceos said:

Those are called "Contrails".

No they're not.  Contrails are water vapor condensing from engine exhaust.  

The OP is asking about Wingtip Vortices specifically.  Wake Turbulence is the general case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_vortices 

Follow too close, and it will ruin your day.  This is why it's a huge deal when passenger aircraft follow each other too closely at busy airports.  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_XB-70_Valkyrie
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/planes-close-houston-airport-faa-article-1.1856013
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mexico_City_plane_crash

[Enceos]

@HalcyonSon You're right. Thanks for reading wiki

[Tex_NL]

50 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

I see effects like that and I immediately think, "and how much will that slow my frame rate?"

Agreed.

It's nice eye-candy but not for the stock game. There are more important things that need to be added or fixed.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Tex_NL

[Martian Emigrant]

OK.

They are called "Wingtip vortices". It as nothing to do with "CONdensation-TRAIL".

They are there all the time but can be seen only on occasion, i.e., air is transparent.

The wing create "lift" by creating a zone of low pressure above the wing. The higher pressure bellow pushes the wing up.

The higher pressure bellow tend to want to go above where the pressure is lower. We see that mostly at the tips.

The turbulent mixing of those different air (Temperature and pressure) can cause a local condensation of water vapour. Another name for condensation is fog or clouds.

It depend on several things like angle of attack, air temperature, percentage of humidity.

 

I agree that it would be cool.....But my computer is doing as poor as I I like it....Toggle it in or out?

 

ME

Edited January 9, 2017 by Martian Emigrant

[Enceos]

12 hours ago, Tex_NL said:

Agreed.

It's nice eye-candy but not for the stock game. There are more important things that need to be added or fixed.

You're wrong on that. Unless stock reentry effects are too laggy for you...

I explained in my post above that ksp devs can do it with stock AeroFX, just needs some extra coding.

[p1t1o]

One thing about these trails is that their appearance is dependent on humidity, something I am sure is not modelled in KSP - having them flick on and off just on speed and angle-of-attack criteria would not be very realistic (and IMO would appear too frequently to be "eye candy").

[Tex_NL]

5 hours ago, Enceos said:

You're wrong on that. Unless stock reentry effects are too laggy for you...

I explained in my post above that ksp devs can do it with stock AeroFX, just needs some extra coding.

No I am NOT wrong. It is just nice eye-candy. And there are WAY more important things than adding eye-candy.

[Enceos]

1 hour ago, Tex_NL said:

No I am NOT wrong. It is just nice eye-candy. And there are WAY more important things than adding eye-candy.

Yeah?  Then you're in the wrong thread, we're discussing possible eye candies here.

[pincushionman]

7 hours ago, p1t1o said:

One thing about these trails is that their appearance is dependent on humidity, something I am sure is not modelled in KSP…

You could fake it by only doing it when "flying low" over "water" or "shores" biomes within a certain latitude and speed range.

The real killer would be determining exactly which part edges cause this effect.

[Enceos]

13 hours ago, pincushionman said:

The real killer would be determining exactly which part edges cause this effect.

Outermost edges are not hard to determine via coding. VAB already does that to calculate the width of the craft.

[p1t1o]

16 hours ago, pincushionman said:

You could fake it by only doing it when "flying low" over "water" or "shores" biomes within a certain latitude and speed range.

The real killer would be determining exactly which part edges cause this effect.

Not a bad shout actually, could choose an altitude band(s) as well.