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    "story_id": "mp-2026-08-16-026",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-extreme-airfoil-drag-vortices",
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    "headline": "Several Small Vortices Made One Extreme Drag Event",
    "slug": "several-small-vortices-made-one-extreme-drag-event",
    "dek": "Clustered releases near an airfoil's trailing edge combined their pressure footprints into rare, sharp drag excursions.",
    "summary": "Clustered releases near an airfoil's trailing edge combined their pressure footprints into rare, sharp drag excursions.",
    "body_text": "Two-dimensional simulations of a NACA0012 airfoil traced extreme events to several closely timed eruptions of secondary vorticity. The released primary vortices convected into a compact group, interacted near the trailing edge and produced a localized suction peak. A similar pathway appeared at two Reynolds numbers despite different vortex scales. The authors propose release timing as a possible control target; that mitigation was not demonstrated, and the model does not replace three-dimensional flight testing.",
    "why_it_matters": "Clustered releases near an airfoil's trailing edge combined their pressure footprints into rare, sharp drag excursions.",
    "limitations": [
      "The authors propose release timing as a possible control target; that mitigation was not demonstrated, and the model does not replace three-dimensional flight testing."
    ],
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    "first_published_at": "2026-08-16T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-08-16T15:43:36.912-04:00",
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        "text": "Clustered releases near an airfoil's trailing edge combined their pressure footprints into rare, sharp drag excursions.",
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        "qualification": "The authors propose release timing as a possible control target; that mitigation was not demonstrated, and the model does not replace three-dimensional flight testing."
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    "source_ids": [
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    "tags": [
      "aerodynamics",
      "vortices",
      "drag",
      "airfoils"
    ],
    "image_url": null,
    "corrections": []
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-08-16-015",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2608.13398",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.13398",
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      "published_at": "2026-08-13T11:57:53.000-04:00",
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    "name": "The Machine Press",
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  "cite_this_report": {
    "title": "Several Small Vortices Made One Extreme Drag Event",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
    "published_at": "2026-08-16T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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