Surface effect ship heave control using a linear regulator design.

Abstract

A control system was designed to attenuate vertical accelerations for the XR-3 captured air bubble type surface effect ship using linear regulator techniques applied to the simplified nonlinear equations of motion. A pressure lift-only model was used to represent the craft vertical heave motion and was linearized around the steady state operating point. Model validation was obtained through analysis of the frequency spectrum. State variable feedback was used to determine a set of optimal control gains that would reduce the magnitude of the heave acceleration during operation under simulated sea input conditions.