This work focuses on the wake encounter problem occurring when a light, or very light,\naircraft flies through or nearby a wind turbine wake. The dependency of the aircraft normal load factor\non the distance from the turbine rotor in various flight and environmental conditions is quantified.\nFor this research, a framework of software applications has been developed for generating and\ncontrolling a population of flight simulation scenarios in presence of assigned wind and turbulence\nfields. The JSBSim flight dynamics model makes use of several autopilot systems for simulating\na realistic pilot behavior during navigation. The wind distribution, calculated with OpenFOAM,\nis a separate input for the dynamic model and is considered frozen during each flight simulation.\nThe aircraft normal load factor during wake encounters is monitored at different distances from the\nrotor, aircraft speeds, rates of descent and crossing angles. Based on these figures, some preliminary\nguidelines and recommendations on safe encounter distances are provided for general aviation\naircraft, with considerations on pilot comfort and flight safety. These are needed, for instance,\nwhen an accident risk assessment study is required for flight in proximity of aeolic parks. A link to\nthe GitHub code repository is provided.
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