Abstract
Taking into account of the serious greenhouse effect, drastic improvement of the energy efficiency of transportation system must be made to prevent Carbon Dioxide emission. In Japan, over 20% of the Carbon Dioxide is emitted from transportation system. Aero-Train is the new zero-emission high-speed vehicle, which the authors are proposing. The wing-in-ground effect is introduced to obtain high lift to drag ratio and high payload of a vehicle. Because of its high energy efficiency, Aero-Train can cruise using only natural energy resources existing in the space where the vehicle runs. First phase of the present investigation has been done using a model pushed by a car in the guide way located at the Miyazaki Research Center of RTRI. Results showed that the model ART001 successfully floated at the speed of 70 km/h for around 30 seconds. Best lift to drag ratio obtained was 20. The second phase model ART002 also floated at the speed of 105 km/h. Present concept appears quite plausible for next generation zero-emission high-speed ground vehicle.
