Influence of resistance due to locomotion mechanism configurations of a new high-speed amphibious vehicle (HSAV-II)

Amphibious vehicles are capable of moving on both water and land, which makes their design more complex than that of ships. The locomotion mechanism of an amphibious vehicle is the main distinguishing feature from ships and is also the primary source of water resistance. The resistance characteristics of amphibious vehicles with different locomotion mechanisms are mainly studied in this paper. Firstly, a numerical calculation method based on the RANS method is established and verified by experiments. Secondly, the resistance characteristics of the amphibious vehicle under a series of speeds are analyzed, and the importance of reducing pressure resistance is demonstrated. Then, the resistance characteristics of different amphibious vehicle configurations are compared. Hull 1 has the smallest resistance at low speed, with a maximum resistance reduction rate of 9.3%; Hull 3 has the best performance at high speed, with a maximum resistance reduction rate of 12.5%. The influence of different configurations is analyzed from the perspectives of the flow field, vehicle attitude, and pressure distribution. Finally, the resistance values and their proportion of total resistance acting on different locomotion mechanisms are analyzed. The results show that the resistance at low speed is related to the complexity of the surface, and the resistance at high speed is more dependent on the attitude. The conclusions of this study have guiding significance for the design of high-speed amphibious vehicles.