• aerodynamics
• sails
• catamaran
• AC45
• wind tunnel

Most sailboats use flexible sails for generating the aerodynamic propulsive
force. However, for the 2013 America’s Cup sailboat competition, rigid sails
are specified. These sails resemble an airplane’s wing and traditional wingdesign
tools, computational and experimental, are used to study the
performance of the current multielement sail. The geometry of the proposed
sail is based on two, tandem, symmetric airfoils, resulting in a geometry,
mainly in the gap between the two airfoils, unlike any traditional two-element
airfoil. Therefore, the main objectives of this thesis are to identify the primary
parameters affecting the aerodynamic performance of such sails and at the
same time, to evaluate the effectiveness of simple computational and
experimental tools for such a design exercise. The present work was carried
out at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at San Diego State
University, San Diego, California, as part of the agreement and cultural
exchange between the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy and San Diego State
University, SDSU.