Study of air-cushion system modelling for semi-track air-cushion vehicle body attitude control

To investigate the body attitude control for a semi-track air-cushion vehicle (STACV), a multi-air-cushions design scheme is adopted. Based on the experimental study of the developed single air-cushion (1-AC) STACV prototype along with its computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, a two air-cushions (2-AC) configuration with controllable orifice valves is mainly examined for the pitch control of the STACV in this paper. Firstly, the relationships among the input air total pressure, the air-cushion forces, and air-cushion system related parameters are obtained according to the relevant testing and CFD simulations from the 1-AC system. Then, the relationships among the controllable orifice valve diameters, fan rotational speed and generated air-cushion pressures of the 2-AC system are acquired using CFD simulations. Finally, the forward and reverse air-cushion system models are established by neural network. This method can be used as a reference in future body attitude control of the STACV with more air-cushions.