USA17 9 flap wing
9 flap wing on USA 17 trimaran
From a January 2010 article on the website of software maker CD-adapco:
On February 8th 2010, in the picturesque Spanish port of Valencia, BMW ORACLE Racing’s skipper Russell Coutts will take the helm of one of the most technologically advanced – and hopefully fastest – boats ever built, in a bid to capture the 33rd America’s Cup. The most remarkable feature of the trimaran – named “USA” – is that it will be powered by an enormous wing, rather than a conventional sail.
As Mike Drummond, BMW Oracle’s Racing Design Director explains: “A wing of this scale has never been built for a boat. In terms of size, it dwarfs those on modern aircraft. Towering nearly 190ft (57m) above the deck, it is 80 per cent bigger than a wing on a 747 airplane.”
In an exclusive interview (with CD-adapco’s Anthony Massobrio) BMW Oracle’s CFD Manager Mario Caponnetto explains how STAR-CCM+ was used to optimize the aerodynamic wing design, at the expense of traditional wind tunnel testing.