Aerodynamic study of WIG craft near curved ground

Wing-In-Ground Effect (WIG) Craft (Russian ekranoplans) offers a new transport solution somewhere between boat and aircraft and may revolutionize the future fast sea transportation in terms of its characteristics. Aerodynamic characteristics of WIG craft near curved ground are investigated. Computational fluids dynamics (CFD) method is applied into the study due to limitation of wind tunnel test in simulating curved ground. Numerical techniques including sliding meshing and dynamic meshing are established and compared in the study to analyze effect of curved ground on WIG craft. Aerodynamics and flow features of WIG craft with and without course angles in cruise are taken into consideration in the current work. The study will hopefully clarify the understanding of the aerodynamics of WIG craft.