The Performance of Wing-In-Ground Craft with Anhedral and Rear Planform Cropping Wing Configurations

Reduction of fuel consumption used by high-speed maritime transport is important in reducing gas emissions. A notable innovation is the WIG craft. Wing-in-ground craft is a form of airborne transportation that operates using the ground effect. A key development in WIG design is the works of Alexander Lippisch, which introduced the reverse delta wing with anhedral. This configuration is known to increase WIG performance. This design has been adopted in modern WIGs, such as the Airfish-8, which included rear planform cropping. To obtain the best performance for WIGs, the effects of anhedral angle and rear planform cropping are studied. This research utilises CFD to support the large amount of wing variations. The results taken to compare each configuration are the lift and the drag coefficients. In this research, the anhedral angles simulated are δ_A = 0°, 8°, and 15°. The cropping percentages are 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% of the 12 m chord. Results show that the wing configuration with 30% crop without anhedral gives the highest performance in most conditions. At 0° angle of attack, the lift drops as the WIG approaches the ground due to the suction effect, and results differ from those at different angles of attack.