Analysis of Impact of Environmental Wind on Motion Characteristics of Hovercraft

摘要

During the voyage of hovercraft, the bottom air cushion lifts the hullcompletely out of the water, which allows hovercraft to sail above airwaterinterface. Therefore, hovercraft has the advantages of high speed,obstacle crossing capability, small underwater physical field, etc.However, it also has some disadvantages, such as great interferenceeffect on environmental wind and poor resisting wind ability, etc. Thelateral drift and other motion characteristics are usually occur. Inaddition, the air propeller thrust and air rudder effect of hovercraft areclosely related to wind speed and wind direction, which directly affectthe speed and maneuverability of hovercraft. It is necessary to study theeffect of wind on hovercraft under various navigational status, so as toprovide theoretical guidance of maneuvering for operators. In this paper,one type of hovercraft is selected as the object of study. Based on thetheoretical model of four-degree-of-freedom maneuvering motion andthe test results of the full-scale hovercraft, through analyzingcharacteristics of the motion parameter change during high speedsailing and mechanic rotation in downwind, headwind and crosswind,the influence of environmental wind on motion characteristics of thistype of hovercraft is derived. The results show that the environmentalwind has a great influence on the motion of hovercraft during highspeed sailing. It not only directly reflects the influence on the speed, butalso greatly changes the turning diameter of hovercraft. With theinfluence of the headwind and crosswind, it may be difficult to turn andsignificant lateral drift might occur for the hovercraft, which should bepaid close attention to by operators.