Design of an aerolevitation electric vehicle for high-speed ground transportation system

An aerolevitation electric vehicle, acting as a tracked wing-in-ground-effect vehicle, is conceptually designed to match the design requirements. The aerodynamic interaction between the vehicle and its track is investigated using a combination of approaches. A boundary-element method is used to study the effect of steady, nonplanar ground effect on the vehicle. The more complicated flow characteristics are investigated using a Navier-Stokes computation. The data obtained from the numerical simulations are compared with the data measured from wind-tunnel tests. The results computed using the boundary-element method agree with the measured data. The longitudinal and lateral stability derivatives are estimated, and a guidance and control system is designed using intelligent techniques based on the estimated stability derivates.