ANSYS Speeds International Yacht Race Winner

Powered by ANSYS solutions to maximize yacht aerodynamics, 'Emirates Team New Zealand' has captured the Louis Vuitton Cup and won the right to compete in the 34th America's Cup.

Faced with the challenge of making fast design improvements to its yacht to stay hyper-competitive, Emirates Team New Zealand used a 100 percent simulation-driven development process — eliminating the need for physical prototypes. Team engineers used ANSYS® computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solutions to virtually test different designs, considering up to 750 operating conditions per design. The simulation results led to a series of seven wins against Louis Vuitton Cup rival Luna Rossa of Italy.

The ANSYS CFD solutions enabled Emirates Team New Zealand to optimize such complex challenges as flow interaction between the wing (main rigid sail), the headsail and the yacht itself. That led to a design in which the yacht platform is used to enhance the aerodynamic performance of the wing and sails.

"We're thrilled to have won the Louis Vuitton Cup with the help of ANSYS," said Nick Hutchins, CFD engineer, Emirates Team New Zealand. "Without ANSYS software, it would have been impossible to improve designs at the pace required in this intense development environment. We're going to need that competitive edge as we're preparing for the America's Cup."

"At ANSYS, we're regularly in awe of how customers are leveraging our solutions and developing amazing products," said Gilles Eggenspieler, ANSYS' senior fluids product line manager. "Witnessing the aerodynamic improvements and incredible achievements that Emirates Team New Zealand has made over the last few weeks has been inspiring to all of us. We're proud that we could help to make them successful."

The 34th America's Cup, a best-of-17-race series, begins Sept. 7, 2013 in San Francisco.