{
  "abstract": "The wake of an airborne wind energy kite is shaped by its crosswind path and, for on-board generation, by the slipstreams of its rotors, and in farms it reaches downstream units. It is computed here by a vortex step method with a time-marching free vortex wake, implemented by the authors in their open-source code OpenFAWE with a lumped-mass tether, actuator-disc rotors releasing vortex rings and several kites. It reproduces an independent vortex step code to 10^-9 on the rigid-wing Makani M600 and within 0.3% in lift and 0.9% in drag on the TU Delft V3 leading-edge inflatable kite, matching its Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes lift within 3.1%. For fixed kites the lift deficit of a finite wake is the far field of its starting vortex, which fixes the wake length before a run, and the vortex core must stay below the narrowest panel width. With these settings the helical tip-vortex pair of the M600 on its loop lowers its lift by about 0.5% from 5 to 13 m/s. Free rotor rings do not converge with the time step, whereas an undeformed slipstream tube converges once its rings are refined at the wing and raises the lift by 1.9%. A slipstream deflected by the wing lowers it by 3.5%, so the treatment near the wing sets the sign of the rotor effect. A second unit one loop diameter downstream loses 0.5% of its lift and 2.2% of its aerodynamic power, with or without rotors.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.37313",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Yinong Tian"
    },
    {
      "name": "Shan Wang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aef8h9qqp4a0r.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.37313",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "aef8h9qqp4a0r",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.37313",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.app-ph"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.flu-dyn"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2202|Aerospace Engineering and Energy Systems"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7224121793",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.37313",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aef8h9qqp4a0r.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:50Z",
      "native_id": "2610.37313",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.37313"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.app-ph",
      "subfield": "applied-instrumentation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.flu-dyn",
      "subfield": "fluid-dynamics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Free-vortex-wake dynamics of airborne wind energy kites in crosswind flight",
  "title_text": "Free-vortex-wake dynamics of airborne wind energy kites in crosswind flight",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:35:50Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/aef8h9qqp4a0r",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}