Dynamic measurements of pressures, sail shape and forces on a full-scale spinnaker

Abstract

This work presents a full-scale experimental study on a sailing yacht in downwind conditions with simultaneous time-resolved measurements of pressures, sail shape and loads. Those on-water experiments on a J/80 class yacht permit the dynamic behaviour of the fluid structure system made of a light cloth sail and highly curved flow to be investigated. Aerodynamic forces on the asymmetric spinnaker were determined from pressure distribution and shape measurements and also from strain gauges located on the corners of the sail. Both time-averaged and instantaneous data are analysed. The time-averaged pressures and forces were studied according to the apparent wind angle. The pressure distribution and thus the loads tend to decrease when the apparent wind angle is increased. The standard deviation of pressures was largest near the luff, decreasing downstream. Simultaneous time series recordings of the pressure distributions, flapping sail shapes, and forces in the sheets show a strong correlation. Flapping of spinnaker creates pressure peaks at the leading edge, increasing the aerodynamic forces dynamically by 50 to 70%. These results will also give reliable benchmark data to validate unsteady fluid structure interaction predictions from numerical simulations of downwind sails.