The adoption of two island superstructures means that all flight activities will be governed through a dedicated island and crew at rear - the ship operations managed from the forward island. The flight deck will support all of the latest British helicopters for the purpose of at-sea resupply, special forces support and special mission requirements (such as Anti-Submarine Warfare - ASW). The ramp measures 200 feet long and 20 feet high with an incline of 12.5 degrees - the longest such ramp ever fitted to a naval vessel. The ramp is designed by BAe Systems and Lockheed Martin and supplies an increased payload to outgoing aircraft of up to 20% - though at the cost of greater stresses to the undercarriage. To facilitate in its short take-off quality, the Queen Elizabeth-class will feature a "ski-type" ramp at its bow (offset to the portside) to provide greater lift across a shorter runaway distance for the fighter. In May of2012, authorities finally elected to follow the British Cold War approach and feature an inline flight deck which coincided with the decision to purchase the new American Lockheed F-35B Lightning II Short Take-Off and Vertical-Landing (STOVL) stealth strike fighter - essentially the new Harrier of the modern age.
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The class was originally intended to resemble modern American carriers in their physical design complete with an angled receiving deck and starboard island superstructure. In 1999, design studies were commissioned for a new breed of aircraft carrier which ultimately became the Queen Elizabeth-class. This proved a far cry with the proposed wide-ranging world warfare expected in the Cold War years. It was deemed that its current, Cold War-era class of aircraft carriers was not up to the task of the expected near-future conflicts that would focus more on "contained" conflicts (as they became in Afghanistan and Iraq).
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In May of 1997, the newly-formed British government began its Strategic Defence Review" which sought to evaluate the current - and future - state of British military strength and capabilities. Air superiority played a major role and the aircraft carrier, used as a mobile support station, dutifully played its part. The war lasted a little over two months and cost the British effort 255 killed to the Argentine's losses of 649 (as well as 11,300 prisoners). The war proved a British victory and saw the heavy utilization of the revolutionary Hawker Siddeley "Harrier" Vertical / Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft which were launched with regularity against Argentine targets and in Combat Air Patrols (CAPs). The power of the aircraft carrier in a modern conflict was driven home for the British during the Falklands War (1982) against Argentina. Unlike modern American carriers, the Queen Elizabeth-class will be conventionally powered (as opposed to nuclear) and feature an inline flight deck (as opposed to an extra angled receiving deck) as well as two island superstructures (as opposed to one). The types represent a whole new generation of carriers for one of the most storied navies in the world and are expected to be commissioned for service in 20 respectively. Building on this, full-scale 30-s CFD airwakes have been generated for the nearfield area surrounding the QEC, and for about 400 m astern of the ship to capture the disturbed air flow along the fixed-wing approach glideslope.The HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) aircraft carrier heads the new, two-strong Queen Elizabeth-class group which will be joined by the HMS Prince of Wales (R09) as the British Royal Navy transitions from its Cold War-era design and doctrine to a force designed for smaller-scale, limited conflicts. The results show generally excellent agreement between the model-scale experiment and CFD. Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation CFD was used to model the flow in the water channel and the computed unsteady flow field has been compared with the experimental measurements.
Queen elizabeth ship construction simulator#
Unsteady airwakes have been generated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and have been incorporated into the F-35/QEC Integration Flight Simulator at BAE Systems Warton and into the HELIFLIGHT-R research simulator at the University of Liverpool.Ī small-scale experiment has also been conducted in which a 1.4 m long (1:200) scale model of the QEC was submerged in a water channel and Acoustic Doppler Velocimetry was used to measure the unsteady flow around the ship. The study has been performed to support the integration of the F-35B Lightning II multi-role fighter with the UK Royal Navy's flagship, HMS Queen Elizabeth. This paper describes a comprehensive experimental and computational modelling study of the aerodynamic environment around the UK's new Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers.