A study on estimation of propulsive power for wing in ground effect (WIG) craft to take-off

Abstract

This paper estimated the propulsive power required for Wing in Ground effect (WIG) craft to take-off. The hull form design of the WIG craft incorporates a stepped planing triple hull, since the planing hull is well known to give result and assist in lifting off the water surface effect. In order to determine the power required for WIG craft to take-off, the craft prototype was built into 1 to 6 model scale. In numerical calculation, the required thrust motor of model to take-off was calculated by summation of water drag; aerodynamic drag and the weight of model. The water drag was estimated by Savitsky’s method, and the aerodynamic drag by a MATLAB programming based on Vortex Lattice Method (VLM). In the experiments, the relationship propeller RPM against thrust motor was obtained from the calibration tests. At the flight tests of the model, the propeller RPM of the model was measured to determine the total thrust motor and the propulsive power required to take-off by using the Froude’s Momentum Theory. The required propulsive power for craft scaled model was found to give the total thrusts of 33.85 N, and the effective power estimates required for WIG model to take-off per propeller was 128Watt at the design speed. It was also observed during most of the flight tests, the craft is attempting to enter into ground surface effect at design speed.