Air Cushion Craft Development, Mantle, Jan 1980(0119)
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. 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. This technical summary is an updated and expanded version of a similar review conducted in 1975 and published as DTNSRDC Report 4727. The additions include a new chapter on control and appendices on performance, weight data, and seakeeping. Much expanded material in the main text includes such topics as performance, propulsion, ride quality, and high speed aerodynamic craft.