Dhmtu

Introduction

Following on from the previous post, on the definition of the DHMTU aerofoil, an initial implementation of this ground-effect specific aerofoil type has been created for GEVfoil. Through the Wing In Ground Effect group on groups.io, a Matlab script was discovered. This Matlab code was created by Martin Hepperl (of JavaFoil [1] fame), in 2012. Thankfully, the Matlab script is open-source, and thus could be translated directly into Python without fear of breaching copyright.

The DHMTU and their aerofoils

Without doubt, the nation that has progressed ground-effect-vehicles the furthest is Russia. More specifically, this was the USSR from the 1960s through to the late 1980s with their Ekranoplan aircraft. These GEVs (Ground Effect Vehicles) were designed by the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau, at the heart of the aerodynamic design was the Department of Hydromechanics of the Marine Technical University (DHMTU) in Saint Petersburg.