Force generation mechanisms of downwind sails

Abel Arredondo-Galeana, Ignazio Maria Viola

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

2 Citations (Scopus)
67 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The force generation mechanisms of a yacht sail are discussed with the aid of force and flow measurements on a model scale spinnaker. The velocity and vorticity fields are measured on five horizontal sections with particle image velocimetry. By comparing the forces measured with a balance to those computed from the vorticity field, we demonstrate how the force generation can be interpreted by the production and stretching of vortex rings. We consider vortex rings to be continuously generated and shed from the perimeter of the sail. The intersection of their vertical legs with horizontal planes are leading and trailing edge vortices. The sail force is due to the rate of change of the impulse of the vortex rings. Consequently, we show that the force can be computed from the time-averaged vorticity field using the Kutta-Joukowski lift formula, or from the strength and relative velocity of the leading and trailing edge vortices, or from the vorticity flux at the perimeter of the sail. The drag is estimated with Filon's drag formula. These results confirm experimentally the theoretical work of Viola et al. [1] and pave the way to the development of design methodologies that improve sail performance by manipulating the local vorticity field.

Original languageEnglish
Number of pages10
Publication statusPublished - 11 Mar 2021
EventHigh Performance Yacht Design Conference - Online, Auckland, New Zealand
Duration: 11 Mar 202112 Mar 2021
Conference number: 7
https://www.hpyd.org.nz/

Conference

ConferenceHigh Performance Yacht Design Conference
Abbreviated titleHPYD7
Country/TerritoryNew Zealand
CityAuckland
Period11/03/2112/03/21
Internet address

Keywords

  • force generation mechanism
  • downwind sails
  • yacht sail
  • spinnaker
  • particle image velocimetry (PIV)
  • trailing edge vortices
  • vortex rings
  • vorticity field

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