OPTIMISING THE PERFORMANCE OF KEELS FOR SAILING YACHTS

In racing yacht design the overall objective is to find the fastest combination of hull and sails for the expected wind and sea conditions, satisfying a design rule of a rating. More specifically, to design a hull with the lowest possible resistance, the highest possible side force (if windward performance is important) and sails, which when integrated with the hull characteristics, produce the greatest thrust. As far as the design of the keel is concerned, this overall objective requires that the keel produces a maximum side force for a minimum of resistance. When doing so, however, the interaction of the keel side force and resistance with hull performance must be considered first and foremost. The most important single problem in racing yacht design can be formulated to be "how to design an underwater configuration which generates a certain side force for minimum resistance, or how to maximise the side force-resistance ratio". This topic is generally discussed under the headings of i) required lateral area of keel and rudder; ii) optimum value of the aspect ration; iii) required planform/taper ratio and sweep angle; and iv) application of winglets.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Schip en Werf, 55 (1988), p. 281 (8 July) [7 pp., 7 ref., 8 fig.]
• Authors:
  • Oossanen, P
  • van
• Publication Date: 1988

Language

• English

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Sailing ships
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00693832
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: British Maritime Technology
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 14 1995 12:00AM