- #36
russ_watters
Mentor
- 23,161
- 10,367
You'll need to look at the fan curve for the fan to see what pressure it generates at that airflow.
Not to be a know it all but... That is not quite true about bladed fans. I have seen quite a few hovercraft with its lift provided by bladed fans. But I'm a new person about hovercraft myself however I've been able to pick up a few basic facts. The above mentioned is one.russ_watters said:I didn't read all the posts, but in a hovercraft, the pressure needed is exactly equal to the weight of the hovercraft divided by the area of the skirt. It has to be. The catch, of course, is that if the fan isn't capable of generating that much pressure, it won't lift off.
Once the hovercraft lifts off, the height will be determined by what airflow the fan generates at that static pressure (the fan will ride its fan curve to that point as the hovercraft rises).
My guess would be that a bladed fan cannot produce enough pressure to lift a hovercraft. Bladed fans don't produce much pressure. A centrifugal fan/blower is what you would need.
If you want to measure flow/pressure, manometers and pitot-static tubes are pretty cheap or you can make them yourself.