Abstract
A model for compressible Air Cushion Vehicles (ACV) is presented. In this model the compressible Bernoulli's equation and the Newton's second law of motion are used to predict the dynamic behavior of the heave response of the ACV in both time and frequency domains. The mass flow rate inside the air cushion of this model is assumed to be constant. The self excited response and the cushion pressure of the ACV is calculated to understand the behavior of the system in order to assist in the design stage of such systems. It is shown in this study that the mass flow rate and the length of the vehicle's skirt are the most significant parameters which control the steady state behavior of the self excited oscillations of the ACV. An equation to predict the transient time of the oscillatory response or the settling time in terms of the system parameters of the ACV is developed. Based on the developed equations, the optimum parameters of the ACV that lead to minimum settling time are obtained.