AIR CUSHION CRAFT DEVELOPMENT. FIRST REVISION

A technical summary is given of the development of air cushion craft from their inception to the present day. The designation "air cushion craft" encompasses any craft that relies on a cushion of air for a significant part of its support and operates in close proximity to the surface. The technical summary covers both aerostatic craft known as air cushion vehicles (ACV) and surface effect ships (SES) as well as aerodynamic craft such as wing-in-ground effect vehicles (WIG). Other variants are included in the review. Where possible, the various available theories empirical laws, and experimental data have been brought together and expressed in unified form. Emphasis has been given to reducing the data and analysis to their simplest forms for easy understanding and isolation of fundamental parameters. In the interest of historical accuracy, care has been taken to cite the original work on any particular theory or piece of data. To make this report readily available, in some instances it has been necessary to avoid the use of classified or proprietary data but this has not been hampered the citing of original work. Currently operational craft, those still in their construction jigs, or in some cases those still on the drawing board are assessed and compared to the basic theories to give a measure of the state-of-the-art.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Availability: Superintendent of Documents, GPO, Washington, DC 20402, Stock Number 008-047-00291-2, HC $13.00. Microfiche furnished to DTIC (and NTIS) users.
• Corporate Authors:

  David Taylor Naval Ship R&D Center

  Bethesda, MD  United States  20084
• Authors:
  • Mantle, P J
• Publication Date: 1980-1

Media Info

• Pagination: 524 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aerodynamics; Air cushion vehicles; Amphibious vehicles; Control systems; History; Hydrodynamics; Lift fans; Propulsion; Ride quality; State of the art; Surface effect ships; Theory; Vehicle power plants
• Uncontrolled Terms: Propulsion systems
• Old TRIS Terms: Aerodynamic characteristics; Air cushion dynamics; Skirts
• Subject Areas: History; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Marine Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00318204
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: DTNSRDC-80/012, Final Report
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 16 2002 12:00AM