INVESTIGATION ON THE STABILITY OF A TRIMARAN WING IN GROUND EFFECT (WIG) CRAFT WITH ENDPLATE

Longitudinal stability of Wing in Ground Effect Craft (WIG) is still the main concern of WIG craft designers and solutions are being sorted out to reduce this effect. In this research, investigations were conducted to determine the effect of flat ground and end plate proximity on the aerodynamic characteristics and stability criteria of NACA 6409 rectangular wing. The investigation were performed using vortex lattice method and examining the effects of flat ground and endplate on the performance of a trimaran WIG for relative ground clearances of 0.06 < h/c < 0.3, ratio endplate he/c = 0.1 on angles of attack between 0 and 8°, aspect ratio 1< AR < 2 Data is presented for lift coefficient with or without endplate, and static stability margin (SSM) versus angle of attack, and ground clearance. The result of the computation shows that the SSM was significantly affected with changing ground clearances with or without endplate. The results were also compared with experimental & CFD data from another research work.