Study on designing Air cushion Vehicle using analytical approach and CFD tools

Air Cushion Vehicle, often called hovercraft, is one of the advanced transport vehicles in today's maritime arena. Besides being modern, it deviates from other conventional vehicles as it needs no surface contact for traction. ACV can achieve higher speeds and use much less fuel as compare to other conventional ships of same weight. With a characteristic of hovering above multiple surfaces (water, land, mud, etc.), can be used for various purposes, for instance transportation purpose, rescue operations and military surveillance near coastal areas. This paper comprises detailed design of Air Cushion Vehicle which includes preliminary sizing, overall weight approximation, total resistance calculation, propulsion power estimation and lift power estimation of an ACV based on requirements. Pertaining to design of hovercraft, following aspects such as size and weight of hovercraft, required lift and propulsion power, speed and hull structure strength to sustain such weight were considered. Total resistance was calculated at different speeds to investigate the hump drag, where ACV experiences maximum drag. Subsequent to the determination of principal dimensions and all possible drag forms due to resistance of Air Cushion Vehicle, CAD model was developed based on preliminary sizing. Henceforth, assessment for velocity and pressure distribution, drag and lift force were carried out through conventional CFD Analysis Software. The purpose of the CFD analysis was to optimize the ACV drag force through proper study of velocity, flow and pressure distribution. Results obtained from flow simulation were compared with the results obtained from theoretical calculations.