Research Project Demonstrates CFD Accuracy for America's Cup Yacht Design

By DE Editors

A research project, recently completed by Dr. Ignazio Maria Viola at the Yacht Research Unit of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, has demonstrated that the resistance of America’s Cup Yachts can be predicted with a high level of accuracy using CD-adapco’s engineering simulation tool STAR-CCM+.

Dr. Viola used two candidate monohull designs from the 32nd America’s Cup to compare numerical simulation results from STAR-CCM+ with experimental results from a towing-tank. At the time of the numerical analysis, the experimental data—measured sinkage, trim and resistance—was only available for one of the hulls. The simulations of the hulls, including keel, bulb and rudder and involving about 2 million control volumes, were performed on a multi-core workstation. In addition to trim, sinkage and resistance, they delivered information about local variation of pressure and velocity in the flow. The latter is vital for the optimization of performance, since integral data alone does not give any indication of why one design would be better than the other.

The STAR-CCM+ results showed that the relative trim at different boat speeds was computed within an accuracy of 0.01°, translating into an accuracy in the resistance predictions of the order of 1% for the hull with its appendages—against 10% for the bare hull 10 years ago.

For more information on Dr. Ignazio Maria Viola, who is currently Lecturer in Naval Architecture at the School of Marine Science and Technology of the Newcastle University, please visit his personal homepage.

For more information on STAR-CCM+ in the Marine Industry, please visit the company's Marine Resource Center.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.