AC45 Wing Sails
 

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to share with you some pictures of a simulation I did of an America's Cup AC45 wing sail catamaran. It's a pretty simple simulation but I thought it looks pretty cool.

The tricky part is the gap between the two elements of the wing sail. This is typically set to around 3% of the main profile chord.

I'd be keen to know people thoughts and any suggestions on improvement.

Mark

http://www.dynamic-fluid-design.com/...il_Stream9.png

http://www.dynamic-fluid-design.com/...il_Stream5.png

Do you have pictures of yuor mesh?

Vinz,

Certainly.

It's a little coarse but it's the best I could do with 5 million cells. I didn't add any surface layers as I was more interested in the flow patterns rather than the viscous drag. Surface layers would have helped in the gap between the elements but I had trouble getting them to mesh. Not shown is an additional refinement region around the boat/wings. I scaled this region down a little to try to increase the number of cells in the gap region.

The lift and drag values seemed reasonable but I've not validated the model.

Mark

I am doing a study on the arodynamic forces acting on the AC45 wing and then I will simulate on CFD (CFX, Fluent of OPENFOAM) the various stages and angles of attack at which the sail will tack.

Have you got any calculations of you wings?
Let me know
L

Hey mate,

Just curious where you got the geometry from? Did you draw it up yourself?

Any change I would be able to have a look at the geometry file? I would like to have a go at simulating something like this out of interest sake (but dont really have the time or patience to try and model the geometry as well).

Im curious to learn how to simulate stuff with free surfaces too, ie. the hulls.


Cheers in advance.


Regards,

Stu

P.s. Looks mad! Good work man.

Dear Mark

Your simulations seem to be great. I am trying to simulate a 3D wing at low Re but I have had little success in getting valid results. Seems like you may be able to help.

Can I request you for your Email address ?

Thanks