Sail Structural Analysis. G.U. Aero Report 9820

While a sailboat is sailing, aerodynamic and hydrodynamic forces are developed due to the interaction between the air flow and the sail plane and between the waves and hull, respectively. Because the sail is so flexible that it can easily be deformed by aerodynamic pressure the aeroelasticity is essential in this context. In fact, on one side the flow around the sail depends upon its shape, but, on the other side, the pressure resulting from the flow determines the shape of the sail. This means that the dynamic and the aerodynamic analysis have to be solved simultaneously. The aim of the present report is to develop the structure analysis of a simple sail configuration composed of a jib, mast and its rig. For each element the structural analysis is developed using the finite element method. The analysis for the sails and the wires of the rig will be non linear due to their large displacements, while for the mast the linear structural analysis will be considered enough