A simple fluid-flow model of ground effect on hovering

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Abstract
Hoverming motions, by which an animal (or a helicopter) in stationary fluid generates a downflow to support its weight, entail energy costs that include the induced power (power supplied to that downflow). The simplest classical model for induced power is the actuator-disk model. This paper shows how a relatively insignificant modification can be made to that model to make it aerodynamically self-consistent. The modified simple model of the downflow may be evaluated in fluid that either is unbounded or is bounded below by horizontal ground. Comparison of the calculated induced powers in the two cases (even though made in this paper not for the true axisymmetric flow patterns but for the corresponding two-dimensional flow patterns) appears to give a more satisfactory analysis than was previously available of the observed reduction of induced power associated with proximity to the ground.
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