CFD design studies for America's Cup 2000

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) plays an ever increasingly important role in the design and analysis of racing sailboats and in particular America’s Cup yachts. The pervasiveness of CFD in the design process is demonstrated by a wide range of applications, concentrating on hull and underwater appendage design, from two of the US syndicate entries, Young America and AmericaOne, from just completed America’s Cup 2000 races in Auckland, NZ. The CFD methods employed generally span a wide range, but the freesurface panel method SPLASH and the overset NavierStokes code Overflow are highlighted here. Discussion includes the CFD tools employed, how they are made to fit into the design process, and specific applications directed at hull and appendage design.