FSI simulations for sailing yacht high performance appendages

In an age where sailing boats are losing their reputation of slow-moving vehicles, and where technologies are developing at explosive rhythm, the scantling criteria are deeply changing and naval architects face new challenges. Beside a literature review on sailing yacht appendages design, the state of the art of the methods for fluid-elastic phenomena prediction is presented. To face the problem of numerical modelling, an overview on Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) numerical computational is provided, introducing the main parameters to care about while modelling the interaction of a hydro-foil with the flow. The software capabilities are explored, reporting the main steps to follow, in order to build both solid and fluid models of a hydrofoil, and to couple them in a FSI analysis. A suitable test case has been selected, providing numerical and experimental reference for outcomes comparisons. The results are presented focusing on tolerances, relaxation factors and time discretisation effect on the solution.