Aerodynamic wingsail loads estimate via an hybrid lifting line-2D approach and preliminary structural composite design of an AC62 class catamaran wing spar

The 34th America's Cup saw, for the first time in the history of the event, the rise of wingsailed foiling catamarans. A formidable jump forward was made possible in terms of top speed performance by the adoption of such technologies. Substituting the sail with a “rigid” Wingsail entailed competing Teams entering a new era of catamaran design and development. The present work was focused on understanding and implementing some of the key aspects of such exciting new opportunities. A methodology was devised to estimate the aerodynamic loads acting on the Wingsail and at the same trying to capture the main limitations imposed by the physics of sailing. An hybrid Lifting Line-2D approach was chosen as a viable solution to the problem in line with the preliminary level of the considerations. A preliminary structural design study was then carried over based on FE analysis in order to understand more about the structural behaviour of the Wingsail. An effort was undertaken in order to understand and model the most important aspects of the structural behaviour of the Wingsail. The overall process proved to be a successful way to assess the general structural behaviour of the Wingsail and a useful tool to investigate a lightweight preliminary design solution for the Wing Spar.