The rise of nanometers

Just when NASA was urgently investigating the "abnormal falling incident of space junk".

China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation's Dalian Shipyard welcomed a special guest. A multi-legged robot arrived here under the escort of security personnel.

The person in charge of the Dalian Shipyard of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and a chief engineer of the project are accompanying the multi-legged robot inside the shipyard.

Wang Ming, chief engineer of the project, excitedly introduced the multi-legged robot: "Mr. Huang, this is the Feipeng class you designed."

Through the surveillance camera and microphone of the multi-legged robot, he clearly saw the machine. The machine in the dock looked very weird.

It's a bit like a catamaran, and a bit like a catamaran.

In fact, this thing is a ground-effect aircraft, or an airfoil. However, this ground-effect aircraft is very large, with an overall weight of 3561 tons. It can fly at an altitude of 4 to 6 meters close to the sea, and can reach a maximum speed of 540 meters. kilometers per hour.

It is seven times larger than the Caspian Sea Monster in Elucia, and has a payload of 2,200 tons, making it one of the largest payload aircraft in history.

The Feipeng class has overcome many difficulties and applied many new technologies and materials. While reducing its own weight, it has also increased its strength by an order of magnitude.

The twin-body design enhances stability and wave resistance.

At the same time, the Feipeng class is also equipped with four oblique detonation rocket engines, using N20 high-energy fuel. At 30% output power, it can cruise and fly close to the sea, with a flying height of 5 meters and a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. .

When the output power is increased to 45%, the flying height is about 6.4 meters, and the speed can soar to 540 kilometers per hour.

When the output power increases to 75%, the flight altitude quickly climbs to 500 meters, while the speed drops to 200 kilometers per hour.

When the output power increases to 100%, the flight altitude can be increased to 3,000 meters, and the speed increases again to 350 kilometers per hour.

Why can the Feipeng-class achieve the highest speed with relatively small output power when flying close to the ground?

This is the characteristic of ground-effect aircraft. When a fixed-wing aircraft flies close to the ground, the lift generated by the wings and the air pressure reaction force generated by the wings and the ground will work together on the wings, resulting in a huge lifting force.

As long as you make good use of this combined force, you can get twice the result with half the effort when the aircraft flies close to the ground.

Huang Xiuyuan combined current technology and some plans in his memory to design the Feipeng-class transport ship, which overcame many shortcomings of traditional ground-effect aircraft.

The shortcomings of traditional ground-effect aircraft are that they cannot adapt to high sea conditions and are difficult to turn quickly. These two problems are very fatal.

On the sea surface, due to the influence of factors such as tidal force, wind force and ocean currents, winds and waves are often strong and high, and the offshore and inland seas are better. The waves in the outer sea often have waves of four to five meters high, or even waves of more than ten meters.

Taking the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea in China as an example, there are approximately 180 to 220 days throughout the year when waves are below 2 meters.

Traditional ground-effect aircraft can only achieve optimal speed and efficiency under sea conditions with waves below 2 meters.

The poor steering ability is because the speed is too fast and it flies close to the sea. Traditional ground-effect aircraft need to tilt the body to achieve turns, which can easily cause the wings to touch the sea, causing the aircraft to lose control.

The improved version of the Feipeng class absorbs some of the principles of the hovercraft and uses pressurized jets to increase the reverse thrust of part of the air pressure at the bottom, thereby raising the flying height of the Feipeng class to 5 to 6.4 meters.

As for the steering ability of the Feipeng class, Huang Xiuyuan's solution is actually very simple and crude, because he uses a high-level obstacle clearance solution.

After all, it is basically impossible for a high-speed ground-effect aircraft to achieve rapid large-angle turns on the horizontal plane, no matter how improved it is.

In this case, he simply gave up horizontal steering and adopted vertical avoidance.

If you encounter an obstacle at sea, it is either a small island or a sailing ship. When you encounter a ship, you only need to climb quickly to avoid it safely.

In fact, if you are traveling on a predetermined waterway, you can detect the ship in advance and achieve safe avoidance by setting up sonar and coastal radar arrays, plus the positioning system equipped on the ship, and the active radar on the aircraft.

Huang Xiuyuan's purpose in designing the Feipeng-class transport ship is mainly to achieve fast maritime transportation. Although the freighter transport volume is huge, its speed is very slow, with the fastest being 30 knots (54 kilometers per hour).

The speed of ordinary ships is only one-tenth that of ground-effect aircraft; while the speed of aircraft is indeed faster than that of ground-effect aircraft, the payload of the aircraft is a flaw.

"Chief Engineer Wang, how much does the Feipeng-class cost?"

Hearing this question, Wang Ming scratched his head and replied: "1.3 billion for one."

Ning Haicheng, the person in charge of Dalian Shipyard on the side, hurriedly added: "Mr. Huang, this is the first-generation prototype, which involves a lot of customization and R\u0026D funds. If it is mass-produced, the cost can be reduced a lot."

He was not too surprised by the cost. After all, the price was much cheaper than the Boeing 777.

He continued to ask: "Battery endurance, what is the data you tested?"

"If it is always in sea cruising mode, it can reach about 6,500 kilometers without adding a fuel tank." Wang Ming replied without hesitation.

Based on the actual situation, Huang Xiuyuan immediately made an estimate: "Let's get a 20% discount! It is estimated to be around 5,200 kilometers."

"Practical application does require a 20% discount." Wang Ming also nodded, agreeing with this assessment.

As for energy consumption, due to the high efficiency and low cost of the thermoelectric power generation module, detonation engine, and N20 fuel.

When the Feipeng class is fully loaded, the average flight cost per kilometer is about 74% to 80% of that of the Boeing 777.

Considering that the Feipeng-class has a payload of 2,200 tons, it instantly kills current civil aviation aircraft. The flight cost is low, and the payload is very high. Once the Feipeng-class is put into the market, it will pose a great threat to the civil aviation business.

Especially in cargo transportation, the competitiveness of civil aviation aircraft will plummet. After all, it is the speed of both parties, and the gap is not too big. The speed advantage of civil aviation aircraft is not obvious.

Of course, in addition to playing an important role in business, the Feipeng class also has very important uses in other fields.

For example, in landing operations, the Feipeng-class's 2,200-ton payload and speed of 400 to 540 kilometers per hour are definitely a weapon for beach landings.

A distance of one to two hundred kilometers can be traveled back and forth once an hour. Moreover, due to the characteristics of ground-effect aircraft, it is in a blind spot area monitored by sonar and radar, and its concealment is very high.

"Manager Ning, please contact the Feipeng Group and tell them that the Feipeng-class prototype has been built. I will ask them to order 10 of them and run them in coastal areas for a period of time."

Upon hearing the news, Ning Haicheng immediately beamed. This was an order worth tens of billions. He replied with a smile on his face:

"Thank you Mr. Huang for taking care of us. We will ensure the quality and create the most perfect Feipeng class."

Huang Xiuyuan continued: "You can also think about it yourself and see if you can continue to improve."

As the chief engineer, Wang Ming secretly smiled bitterly. In his opinion, the Feipeng-class was already the pinnacle of the industry. It was not easy to continue improving. Not everyone was that perverted.

Thank you for your support (ω｀)