Results of large-eddy simulations of an aircraft wake are compared wit
h results from ground-based Lidar measurements made at NASA Langley Re
search Center during the Subsonic Assessment Near-Field Interaction Fl
ight Experiment held tests. Brief reviews of the design of the field t
est for obtaining the evolution of wake dispersion behind a Boeing 737
and of the model developed for simulating such wakes are given. Both
the measurements and the simulations concentrate on the period from a
few seconds to a few minutes after the wake is generated, during which
the essentially two-dimensional vortex pair is broken up into a varie
ty of three-dimensional eddies. The model and experiment show similar
distinctive breakup eddies induced by the mutual interactions of the v
ortices, after perturbation by the atmospheric motions.