Wing In Ground

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A Wing In Ground-effect vehicle (WIG), sometimes referred to as a flarecraft, is a vehicle that cruises little more than a few feet over flat surfaces, most often water. It can be seen as a transition between a hovercraft and an aircraft. As it flies just above a surface, it is also classified as WISE or WISES (Wing In Surface Effect Ship). WIGs are also classified as Ground Effect Vehicles (GEV).{{cite web | last = Scott | first = Jeff | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Ground Effect and WIG Vehicles | work = | publisher = Aerospaceweb.org | date = 2003-06-29 | url = http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0130.shtml | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-10-01--> In conventional aircraft, "flare" is the rotation of the aircraft's nose up, used at the final part of landing to arrest the descent rate before touch down. In WIG vehicles, this is the basic attitude to sustain flight level flight.

WIG craft float on a cushion of high-pressure air created by aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface, known as ground effect. A WIG differs from an aircraft in that it cannot operate without ground effect, so its operating height is limited relative to its wingspan.

In recent years a large number of different WIG craft have evolved for both civilian and military use. However, these craft are not in wide use as yet.

History Small numbers of experimental vehicles were built in Scandinavia just before World War II. By the 1960s, the technology started to improve. The contributions of Russian Rostislav Alexeev and Germany Alexander Lippisch. They independently worked on WIG technology arriving to very different solutions. Alexeev worked from his background as a ship designer whereas Lippisch worked from his own background as an aeronautical engineer. The influence of Alexeev and Lippisch is still noticeable in most WIG vehicles seen today.The Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau (CHDB), lead by Alexeev was the center of ground-effect craft development in Russia. The military potential for such a craft was soon recognised and Alexeiev received support and financial resources from Kruchev. This lead to the development of the Caspian Sea Monster, a 550 ton military ekranoplan. Before it, some manned and unmanned prototypes were built, ranging up to eight tons in displacement.

The Russian ekranoplan program continued and led to the most successful ekranoplan so far, the 125 ton A.90.125 Orlyonok. A few Orlyonoks were in service with the Russian Navy from 1979 to 1992. In 1987, the 400 ton Lun-class ekranoplan was built as a missile launcher. The second Lun was renamed to Spasatel, as a rescue vessel, but was never finished.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, smaller ekranoplans for non-military use have been under development. The CHDB had already developed the eight-seat Volga-2 in 1985, and Technologies and Transport developed a smaller version by the name of Amphistar.

In Germany, Lippisch was asked to build a very fast boat for Mr Collins from Collins Radio Company in the USA. He developed the X-112, a revolutionary design with reversed delta wing and T-tail. This design proved to be stable and efficient in ground effect and even if it was successfully tested, Collins decided to stop the project and sold the patents to a German company called Rhein Flugzeugbau (RFB) which further developed the model.Hanno Fischer took over the works from RFB and created his own company called Fischer Flugmechanik. Their two seat Airfisch 3 and their later model to seat 6 passengers have been a successful design. This craft, the FS-8 will soon be produced by a Singapore-Australian joint venture called Flightship. An ongoing research project in collaboration with the university of Duisburg-Essen, involves the development of the Hoverwing.{{cite web | last = Technische Entwicklung von Bodeneffektfahrzeugen | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Ground Effect Craft ''Hoverwing'' | work = | publisher = Universitat Duisburg-Essen | date = 2000-03-01 | url = http://www.dst-org.de/projekte/projekte/hoverwing/hoverwing_eng.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-10-01 --> Günter Jörg in Germany, working on the first designs of Alexeiev, developed a WIG vehicle with two wings in a tandem arrangement, the Jörg-II. This tandem WIG is a simple and low cost design, however has not been produced due to commercial problems.

Under development are the Boeing Pelican {{cite press release | title = The Pelican: A big bird for the long haul | publisher = Boeing Frontiers Online | date = 2002-09-01 | url = http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2002/september/i_pw.html | accessdate = 2007-10-01 --> and the French 'Aéroptère' {{cite news | last = Bremner | first = Charles | coauthors = | title = Is it a boat? Is it a plane? It's the ferry of the future | work = | pages = | language = English | publisher = The Times | date = 2006-07-01 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article681498.ece | accessdate = 2007-10-01 -->.

There have been other smaller prototypes around the world, as the Kawasaki KAG-3, a flarecraft with water propulsion, the UH-18SPW , the 19XRW , Hoverwing (UH) and many others.

Classification One of the problems that have delayed the development of these craft is the classification and legislation to be applied. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has studied the application of rules based on the International Code of Safety for High-Speed Craft (HSC code) which was developed for fast ships such as hydrofoils, hovercraft, catamarans and the like. The Russian Rules for classification and construction of small type A ekranoplans is a document upon which most WIG design is based.

Advantages and Disadvantages A ground effect craft may have better fuel efficiency than an equivalent aircraft flying at low level due to the close proximity of the ground reducing lift-induced drag. There are also safety benefits in flying close to the water as an engine failure will not result in severe ditching. However, this particular configuration is difficult to fly even with computer assistance. Flying at very low altitude above the sea may be dangerous if the craft is too much banked to achieve a small radius turn.

A take-off must be into the wind, which in the case of a water launch, means into the waves, this creates drag and reduces lift. Two main solutions to this problem have been implemented. The first was used by the Russian Ekranoplan program which placed engines in front of the wings to provide more lift. The Caspian Sea Monster had eight such engines which were not used once the craft was airborne. A second, more elegant approach, is to use some form of an air-cushion to raise the vehicle most of the way out of the water, making take-off easier. This is used by German Hanno Fischer in the Hoverwing (successor of the Airfisch ground effect craft), which uses some of the air from the engines to inflate a skirt under craft in the style of a Sidewall Hovercraft hovercraft.

Wing configurations Inverse Delta Developed by Alexander Lippisch this wing allows stable flight in ground effect through self stabilisation. This is the main Ground effect#Wing In Ground effect (WIG) craft form of ground effect craft.

Ekranoplan Wing This was the profile designed by Rostislav Alexeyev. The wings are significantly shorter than comparative aircraft. This configuration self stabilizes pitch and altitude due to a high aft placed horizontal tail and front-aft wings.

Tandem Wings Tandem Wing can have two configurations.A Bi-plane style Type-1 utilizing a shoulder mounted Main Lift Wing and a belly mounted sponsons similar to those on combat and transport helicopters such as AH-1 COBRA, AH-64 Apache, AS-332 Super Puma, KA-50 Black Shark, MH-53 Pave Low, MI-24 Hind, MI-28 Havoc, SH-3 Sea King.Or a canard-style type-2 with a mid-size Horizontal stabilizer near the nose of the craft directing airflow under the Main Lift Airfoil. This Type-2 tandem design is a major improvement during take-off as it creates an air cushion to lift the craft above the water at a lower speed, thereby reducing water drag which is the biggest obstacle to successful seaplane launches.

References and further reading

Bill Gunston, The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft, Osprey (2000), ISBN 978-1841760964
Ernst Heinrich Hirschel, Horst Prem, Gero Madelung, Aeronautical Research in Germany: From Lilienthal Until Today, Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K (2003), ISBN 978-3540406457
Fishwick, S., Low flying boats, Amateur Yacht Research Society, Thorpe Bay (2001), ISBN 0-85133-126-2
Kirill V. Rozhdestvensky, Aerodynamics of a Lifting System in Extreme Ground Effect, Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K (2002), ISBN 978-3540662778
McGraw-Hill, McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, McGraw-Hill Professional (2002, ISBN 978-0070423138
Randall Forsberg, The Arms Production Dilemma: Contraction and Restraint in the World Combat Aircraft Industry, The MIT Press (1995), ISBN 978-0262560856

External links

AirFish Wing-in-Ground Effect Crafts
Airliners.net Photos of Alekseyev A-90
RIA Novosti article on Soviet WIG research
Skimmerfoil Jörg IV at the SAAF Museum in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
The Pelican
The WIG Page, an extensive resource on Wing In Ground effect vehicles.