Expanding influence

America's Cup design simulation tools are now being applied across a wide range of naval architecture, both by those with existing in-house access and also through the contracting of external consultants. Claudio Fassardi describes a project undertaken in conjunction with Javier Soto Acebal

Since the beginning of sailboat racing, designers have relied mainly on perceived 'on-the-water' performance as an indication of the success or failure of their new design features. Feedback from the sailors and the sailboat's track record allowed designers to implement improvements in their future designs with some degree of certainty of success. However, the multitude of factors that affect sailboat performance make such trial and error development based on on-the-water experience a poor method for quickly achieving better designs.

Some knowledge base of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics has been available to the yacht design community since the very beginning. However, feasible and economical ways to test ideas and analyze results by means other than perceived on-the-water performance have not been available until quite recently.

But recent scientific developments in the areas of hydro and aerodynamics coupled with significant advances in computing power and computational methods have allowed designers to take advantage of new ways to test their ideas and improve their designs, before sending drawings to the boat builder.

To read this article in full, please go to the SEPTEMBER 2002 issue of Seahorse International Sailing. You can subscribe via our website

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