22nd January 2021 10:56 am 22nd January 2021 10:56 am Researchers at Purdue University in the US have developed a modelling approach aiming to help design aircraft capable of handling extreme scenarios such as turbulence. Mechanical engineering professor Carlo Scalo and his research team use supercomputers to develop models that efficiently simulate vortex flow phenomena. Image: Purdue University/Rebecca McElhoe It is hoped that their work could be useful in situations such as an incident in 2018, when passengers onboard a flight to Australia experienced a 10-second nosedive when a vortex trailing their plane crossed into the wake of another flight. The collision of these vortices, the airline suspected, created violent turbulence that led to a free fall.