Development of a Carbon Composite Coach Roof for Alex Thomson Racing’s IMOCA 60 Yacht Keywords: Composite material, design optimization Both the professional and leisure sailing industries provide a fascinating area from an engineering perspective. High performance sailing yachts in particular, used in the world's most challenging environments, are highly engineered when compared to leisure yachts. In the Open 60 class, they are often 'one of a kind' customized products. Many of their components are individually designed and produced for a single boat and since there is no series production, each yacht can be seen as a prototype, using the designers’ experience of past boats to maximize its performance. To successfully design and build a yacht that will perform to the level required by Vendée Globe skipper Alex Thomson, the designers and engineers have to get it right first time; there is no room or time for error. The boat has to be both as light and as strong as possible, and obviously it has to be quick, at least as quick as its competition and hopefully, faster. It has to be stable, stiff, and safe, and its design has to be as efficient as possible to help its speed through the water. To meet these exacting standards contemporary race boats are now almost exclusively constructed from composite materials which offer significant advantages in terms of weight, strength and adaptability. However, knowing how to utilize these materials most efficiently takes extensive knowledge and experience in the composites industry, skills that may have been honed over many years working in comparable markets such as motor racing. Industry Marine, Yacht Design Challenge Design a bespoke sliding coach roof for Alex Thomson’s Open 60 ‘HUGO BOSS’ Altair Solution Virtual development process with two stage composite optimization conducted by Altair ProductDesign Benefits Sliding coach roof met material budget and development time constraints Key Highlights C.Launay/Alex Thomson Racing/HUGO BOSS Success Story
Transcript
Development of a Carbon Composite Coach Roof for Alex Thomson Racing’s IMOCA 60 Yacht
Keywords: Composite material, design optimization
Both the professional and leisure sailing
industries provide a fascinating area
from an engineering perspective. High
performance sailing yachts in particular,
used in the world's most challenging
environments, are highly engineered
when compared to leisure yachts. In the
Open 60 class, they are often 'one of a
kind' customized products. Many of their
components are individually designed and
produced for a single boat and since there
is no series production, each yacht can be
seen as a prototype, using the designers’
experience of past boats to maximize its
performance.
To successfully design and build a yacht that
will perform to the level required by Vendée
Globe skipper Alex Thomson, the designers
and engineers have to get it right first time;
there is no room or time for error. The boat
has to be both as light and as strong as
possible, and obviously it has to be quick,
at least as quick as its competition and
hopefully, faster. It has to be stable, stiff, and
safe, and its design has to be as efficient as
possible to help its speed through the water.
To meet these exacting standards
contemporary race boats are now almost
exclusively constructed from composite
materials which offer significant advantages
in terms of weight, strength and adaptability.
However, knowing how to utilize these
materials most efficiently takes extensive
knowledge and experience in the composites
industry, skills that may have been honed
over many years working in comparable
markets such as motor racing.
IndustryMarine, Yacht Design
ChallengeDesign a bespoke sliding coach roof for Alex Thomson’s Open 60 ‘HUGO BOSS’
Altair SolutionVirtual development process with two stage composite optimization conducted by Altair ProductDesign
BenefitsSliding coach roof met material budget and development time constraints
Key Highlights
C.La
unay
/Ale
x Th
omso
n Ra
cing
/HUG
O BO
SS
Success Story
“The engineering expertise provided by Caterham Composites in conjunction with Altair, meant that the resulting product delivered exactly what was required from this modification."
Alex Thomson, Vendée Globe Skipper, Alex Thomson Racing
To take full advantage of the benefits
composite materials can offer, and to
optimize the boat design process as quickly
as possible, racing yacht designers now
use virtual development methods to design,
analyze, optimize, and test the components
before the yacht is built. This process helps
to save time, money and stress when the
boat is on the water.
The ChallengeAlex Thomson Racing approached
composites design and manufacturing
specialists, Caterham Composites and its
development partner, Altair ProductDesign to
bring their expertise to a number of areas of
Alex’s IMOCA Open 60 yacht.
A key component that the companies were
asked to look at was the development and
production of the yacht’s sliding coach
roof. The coach roof is designed to offer
Skipper, Alex Thomson protection from waves
crashing over the deck while still allowing
him to sail the boat to its full potential. The
design of the roof also allows it to slide into
a forward position to maximize the cockpit
area available for Alex to work in.
The Caterham Composites team were
provided with limited budget and material
options and the project required completion
within a tight timeframe to fit into the
overall refit and training schedule. Given
the requirements of the project Caterham
Composites turned to Altair ProductDesign
and Altair's HyperWorks suite to handle the
simulation and optimization of the roof.
Caterham Composites' engineers used
readily available materials of intermediate
modulus carbon fibers in various forms for
the outer part of the coach roof. For the core
of the product, the engineers used foam
and Nomex. The main difference between
this and other projects was the production
method, led by time and budget limitations
that are common in the sailing industry.
The tooling was made from plywood, which
although accurate, cannot resist changes
in temperature or pressure. As it could not
be autoclaved, the lower volume fraction as
well as lower mechanical properties of room
temperature curing resin had to be taken
into account and integrated into the project
and its final deliverables.
CAE model of the roof showing 4 load steps Free size optimization of the roof with optimization technology, OptiStruct
One of the primary challenges was to
create a component that was light enough
not to add excess weight to the yacht’s
basic structure while still being able to
withstand the huge volumes of water across
the deck as the boat powers through the
world’s oceans. To meet the expected
load requirements, Caterham Composites
worked to ABS and ISO standards for surface
pressures and added in appropriate safety
factors.
Solution - Composite OptimizationTaking all these constraints into account,
the Altair ProductDesign and Caterham
Composites engineers started to create the
structural design of the yacht’s roof with the
use of Altair's HyperWorks suite of simulation
and optimization solutions.
The materials decided upon were A500 foam
and Nomex honeycomb for the core and
T800 carbon for the skin. The carbon fiber
forms available are UD and woven. 0° and
90° plies are limited to UD, 30°, 40° and
60° plies are limited to woven carbon. The
cores of the roof were fixed at a thickness
of 20mm. Five load cases were considered
in the optimization process. One load step
considers water pressure of 0.65kNm²
acting on the entire roof while the other four
simulate Alex standing on the roof in various
locations on one leg (90kg at 2g).
Altair ProductDesign conducted a two step
optimization process, with a free size and
a size optimization of the roof. In the first
step, the free size optimization, the optimum
shape and location of the ply patches are
determined, essentially answering the
question: Which fiber angles are required
where in the structure? The following targets
were defined:
• Minimize compliance
• Minimize overall mass
In the following step, size optimization, the
optimum thickness for the previously found
ply patches were discovered. The engineers
optimized the system to reach the following
targets:
• Minimize compliance
• Constrain deflection to 10 mm
• Constrain failure index to 0.5
Results & BenefitsThe final roof design suffered no failures in
any load case at a total mass of 36kg, while
working to exactly the expected and required
stiffness. It provided shelter from the waves
without limiting the physical capabilities
of Alex when sailing the yacht. Due to the
work completed with HyperWorks and the
experience of the Caterham Composites
and Altair ProductDesign engineers, the
design was right the first time. The roof was
designed, optimized and produced all within
the given timeframe.
The coach roof was put to a true test
when Alex Thomson set the Transatlantic
single-handed record in July 2012. Talking
about the modifications on his return Alex
commented "The weather I faced in the
Atlantic gave me ample opportunity to push
the adjustments that we made to the coach
roof over the winter to the limit and I’m
pleased to say it’s excellent. The engineering
expertise provided by Caterham Composites,
in conjunction with Altair, meant that the
resulting product delivered exactly what was
required from this modification."
www.altairproductdesign.com
www.caterhamcomposites.com
www.alexthomsonracing.com
Alex Thomson is the youngest skipper ever to win a round the world race, claiming victory in the 1998/99 Clipper Round the World Race; a record he still holds today. He is determined to achieve his dream to become the first Briton to win the Vendée Globe race.
About Alex Thomson
CAD model of the entire yacht including the new sliding coach roof
Visit the Altair ProductDesign library of
at www.altairproductdesign.comSuccess Stories
Altair Engineering, Inc., World Headquarters: 1820 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, MI 48083-2031 USAP: +1.248.614.2400 • F: +1.248.614.2411 • www.altair.com
HyperStudy®DSS, MotionView®, MotionSolve™, Altair Data Manager™, HyperWorks Process Manager™, HyperForm®, HyperXtrude®, GridWorks™,
PBS Professional®, and e-Compute™ are trademarks of Altair Engineering, Inc. All other trademarks or servicemarks are the property of their respective owners.
Altair empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held with more than 1,800 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 25-year-plus track record for innovative product design and development, advanced engineering software and grid computing technologies, Altair has more than 3,500 corporate clients representing the automotive, aerospace, government and defense, and consumer products verticals. Altair also has a growing client presence in the life sciences, financial services and energy markets.
Altair ProductDesign is a global, multi-disciplinary product development consultancy of more than 700 designers, engineers, scientists, and creative thinkers. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Altair Engineering Inc., this organization is best known for its market leadership in combining its engineering expertise with computer aided engineering (CAE) technology to deliver innovation and automate processes. Altair ProductDesign firmly advocates a user-centered, team-based design approach, and utilizes proprietary simulation and optimization technologies (such as Altair HyperWorks) to help clients bring innovative, profitable products to market on a tighter, more efficient time-scale.
We believe that creative thinking and engineering rigour can make anything lighter, stronger, faster and more efficient. Part of the Caterham Group, we’re a specialist company delivering turn-key lightweight structural solutions to all industries. We offer fresh thinking, new perspectives and an unquenchable thirst for improvement. Our focus is on the aerospace, automotive, marine, and motor sport industries - including Formula One, the leading sector for structural lightweight solutions and applied technology. Our unique experience, spanning more than 25 years, combined with ground breaking technology and a free-thinking environment means we can deliver tailored innovation for our customers.
