This paper carries out investigation on aerodynamic characteristics of an icebreaking hovercraft based on the numerical simulation method. The whole research model is divided into six configurations as follows: ducted propeller only; hull only; lift fan with bow thruster; hull with ducted propeller; hull with lift fan and bow thruster; hull with ducted propeller, lift fan and bow thruster. By predicting and comparing the aerodynamic performance of the above six configurations, the aerodynamic characteristics of the icebreaking hovercraft and the interference rules between the hull and the equipments on board are obtained. The results show that there is obvious interference between the hull and the equipments on board, it is very necessary to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of the icebreaking hovercraft and gain the interference rules between the hull and the equipments on board, so as to support the general layout design of the icebreaking hovercraft.
Hovercraft is a kind of high performance ship that runs above the surface of the water. Compared with the conventional ships, it is more important to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of the hovercraft (Andrews,EJ,1970) because of the following reasons. Firstly, the hull of hovercraft is lifted off the water when it works, which greatly reduces the water resistance and makes the proportion of the aerodynamic resistance in the total resistance significantly increased (Zhen,N,1987), which has a considerable influence on the speed of the hovercraft. Secondly, there are many equipments on the hovercraft, such as ducted propeller, lift fan, bow thruster, etc. When the above equipments work, the flow around them will couple with that of the hull, which will change the aerodynamic performance of the hull(Ma, T and Wu, CJ, 2012). And the interference of the hull on the above equipments may also change their aerodynamic performance, which will finally change the aerodynamic characteristics of the hovercraft. Thirdly, there may be interference among the equipments on board, when they work at the same time, the flow of them may couple with each other and change their aerodynamic characteristics, which will also change the aerodynamic performance of the hovercraft.
