Use and misuse

K-Challenge trial Team New Zealand's 2000-generation ACC pairing of FRA 57 and 60. Such trials may be for reasons of full scale comparisons or they may be to validate CFD codes and other theoretical development work. The sheer pace of ex-NZL 57 continued to amaze rivals in Malmo, where at least two top teams noted unexpected difficulty in hanging on to this 6-year old boat in their much-updated 2003-generation designs...

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) engineer Dimitri Nicolopoulos explains to Dobbs Davis how to distinguish between valuable CFD work and another, less well-known but widely used type of CFD: those graphic depictions of 'Colourful Fluid Dynamics'

The basics
Broadly speaking, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a field of study that mixes applied mathematics and computer science to predict fluid flow behaviour numerically. It is still a relatively new field, with development driven mainly by defence, aerospace and automotive R&D programmes.

These industries benefit greatly from CFD in developing new designs. But as yet, according to Nicolopoulos, 'Similar attempts to use CFD in sailing have yielded only mixed results...'

To read the remainder of this and many other topical technical articles, please purchase your copy of the November 2005 edition of Seahorse International Sailing, available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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