Hydrofoiling mk2 boat, Photo and more stats added!

[Raptor kerman]

This mk2 hydrofoil takes off at 10 m/s and can reach 47/48 m/s with a bit of patience... 

https://kerbalx.com/RaptorWorKs/foiler

Tell me your opinions and I'll love you <3

 

This is the 1st version, the downloadable version has an extra radial air intake for optimal efficiency 

Edited January 16, 2017 by Raptor kerman

[phantom000]

It looks like a space shuttle crashing into the ground...

[Raptor kerman]

Sorry for the lack of photos, I posted this thread as quickly as I could, photos coming TOMMOROW. Along with more info... Stay tuned

 

[Raptor kerman]

Update, photo added. 

-This craft is my 1st foiler and is a proof of concept for a future SAR boat for capsules landing in the oceans.

- It uses a 'ladder' foiling layout which means it almost always has optimal drag and hydrodynamics.

- It tends to foil in a slight 'wheelie', I'm currently working on action groups for trim, this should come later today.

-Top speed tested with 2 vectors instead of the Ramjets, Above 150 m/s this foiler becomes an ekranoplan utilising ground effect to skim the water, anything higher and the boat starts to fly proper at around 200 m/s. 

ENJOY!

[phantom000]

Now this is neat! I have been playing around with jet propelled boats but never got very far, i might have to give this a try.

[AeroGav]

I'd be interested to see your findings on hydrofoils.    I built only one,  but it needs rapier, both junos, and both nervs to get out of the water.

https://kerbalx.com/AeroGav/K133--Curlew

The hydrofoils have negative pitch stability while the stuff above the waterline , positive.  That might have been an error, i was hoping this would make it adopt a nose up attitude, but it might just be causing all the weight to go onto the rear foil and on landing, it digs its nose in really bad .    Got a feeling it shouldn't need that much thrust to take off,  so maybe room for improvement on the foils.

[Raptor kerman]

@Aerogav

The 'ladder' concept is by far the most stable, but I dought it's the fastest. Right now, foiling is mainly for straight lines only, but i I can make an L foil like in the America's cup work then we should have something more manoeuvrable....

[luizopiloto]

You can improve your design... I suggest to have just one control surface at each wing and tweak it's deflection angle to adjust lift... and also configure an action group to deploy it like the flaps on a plane, to reduce drag while accelerating...

 

[Raptor kerman]

1 hour ago, luizopiloto said:

You can improve your design... I suggest to have just one control surface at each wing and tweak it's deflection angle to adjust lift... and also configure an action group to deploy it like the flaps on a plane, to reduce drag while accelerating...

 

@luizopiloto , I like that foil design, but from what I can see, once up on the foils, you have no rudder system in the water. About the multitude of control surfaces on each wing. They're the principle of the 'ladder' layout. You have maximum lift at the start of the take-off, but you're always foiling higher until you reach the limit of the layout (in my case 4 surfaces). I also took an idea developed by Emirates Team New Zealand in their ground breaking research on foils in their 34th America's Cup bid (see spoiler). In short, the foil is a dihedral, increasing natural stability, but also allowing the top of the foil to protrude the surface when the foil starts becoming over efficient. Thus slightly decreasing lift and making the foil (and boat) fly slightly lower. This basically made it an auto-adjusting foil. 

Spoiler

If you have an hour waste, these are a couple ways to do it well!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQoNYe2jFP8 Conference on foil development and other aspects of the 34th America's cup

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=174063 Topic on AC35 foils, interesting read.

 

 

This kind of works in KSP, I'm still trying to refine it. I'll keep all of you updated on that!

[luizopiloto]

I opted to not have a rudder in the water, because having it caused more problems than helped. I use roll to steer while gliding on the foils, way more stable.