Practical problems relating to the hovercraft application of marine gas turbines

Design specifications of the marine gas turbine in a hovercraft application are discussed, in addition to the requirements for load distribution of the turbine power in this application. The effective load of the gas turbine is found to be about 57 percent higher than that of the air-cooled diesel engine, and a comparison between the two engines indicates that the effective load of the diesel-driven boat becomes advantageous only when the endurance is more than 26 hours. A multistage filter for air-water separation could reduce the salt content to less than 0.01 ppm where the pressure loss is less than 100 mm water head, and a low profile-resistance ejector without a mixing section could be developed to reduce the engine room pressure to the 45-50 C range.