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By H. J. Richter and K. C. Horrigan, Thayer School of Engineering,
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; J.B. Braun, North Sails Performance Resource
Group, Marblehead, MA; and K. H. Kuehlert, Fluent Inc.
View the pdf of this article
The Alinghi yacht during Race 1 in Auckland
Copyright Th. Martinez, Alinghi Team
The landlocked European nation of
Switzerland is not renowned for its seafaring
traditions or its expertise in yachting.
In Auckland Sound this past winter, however,
this stereotype was forever put to rest. The
Swiss-based Alinghi yachting team, skippered
by Russell Coutts, captured the America's Cup
from two-time holders Team New Zealand in
a dramatic 5 - 0 series.
As was reported in the Fall 2002 issue of
Fluent News, researchers from the Ecole
Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) -
the Official Scientific Advisor to the Alinghi
Challenge for the 2003 America's Cup - working
in the group of Prof. Alfio Quarteroni, have
applied leading-edge numerical flow simulation
techniques using FLUENT. These simulations
have provided valuable information to
the Alinghi Design Team, which, under the
direction of Grant Simmer, designed the winning
high-performance Alinghi racing yacht.
The use of FLUENT along with in-house and
third party codes, has allowed the EPFL and
Alinghi to analyze hydrodynamic and aerodynamic
flows, and even yacht/yacht interactions.
CFD has allowed Alinghi to obtain a
competitive edge in an application area where
small performance improvements result in significant
time gains.
According to Prof. Quarteroni, "We are very
proud of Alinghi's strong performance in the
America's Cup, and we are pleased that our
CFD group was able to contribute to the
victory.
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