Modal Analysis of Pressures on a Full-Scale Spinnaker

Abstract

While sailing offwind, the trimmer typically adjusts the downwind sail “on the verge of luffing”, occasionally letting the luff of the sail flap. Due to the unsteadiness of the spinnaker itself, maintaining the luff on the verge of luffing requires continual adjustments. The propulsive force generated by the offwind sail depends on this trimming and is highly fluctuating. During a flapping sequence, the aerodynamic load can fluctuate by 50% of the average load. On a J/80 class yacht, we simultaneously measured time-resolved pressures on the spinnaker, aerodynamic loads, boat data and wind data. Significant spatio-temporal patterns were detected in the pressure distribution. In this paper we present averages and main fluctuations of pressure distributions and of load coefficients for different apparent wind angles as well as a refined analysis of pressure fluctuations, using the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) method. POD shows that pressure fluctuations due to luffing of the spinnaker can be well represented by only one proper mode related to a unique spatial pressure pattern and a dynamic behavior evolving with the Apparent Wind Angles. The time evolution of this proper mode is highly correlated with load fluctuations. Moreover, POD can be employed to filter the measured pressures more efficiently than basic filters. The reconstruction using the first few modes makes it possible to restrict the flapping analysis to the most energetic part of the signal and remove insignificant variations and noises. This might be helpful for comparison with other measurements and numerical simulations.