Print Email Facebook Twitter On wings and keels Title On wings and keels Author Slooff, J.W. Institution National Aerospace Laboratory NLR Date 1984-01-20 Abstract A discussion is given of the physical mechanisms governing the hydrodynamics of sailing yacht keels and the parameters that, through these mechanisms, determine keel performance. It is concluded that due to the presence of the free water surface optimum keel shapes differ from optimum shapes for aircraft wings, a fact that does not seem to have been widely recognized. Utilizing computational fluid dynamic analysis and optimization methods it is found that the performance of conventional keels can be improved significantly by reducing taper or even applying inverse taper ("upside down" keel) and that dramatic improvements in performance can be realized through keels with "winglets" as utilized by the 1983 America's Cup winner "Australia II". Subject configurationshydrodynamicswingskeelssailing yachtswingletspanel methodssea keepingvortex sheddingcomputational fluid dynamicsdrag reductionfree surface effectsship hullswave resistance To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:715e3e67-ac1c-4879-a7b7-a7856d5dc2a2 Publisher Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium Access restriction Campus only Source NLR MP 84006 U Part of collection Aerospace Engineering Reports Document type report Rights (c) 1984 National Aerospace Laboratory NLR Files campus only