Flying shape and aerodynamics of a full-scale flexible Olympic windsurf sail

TL;DR

This study measures the 3D flying shape and aerodynamics of a full-scale flexible Olympic windsurf sail in real sailing conditions, revealing the importance of sail deformation on aerodynamic performance.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of a full-scale flexible windsurf sail's shape and forces, highlighting the impact of sail deformation on aerodynamics.

Findings

Sail deformation significantly affects aerodynamic coefficients.

Full-scale flexible sail shows reduced lift and drag compared to rigid models.

Sail twist varies along the height, influencing force distribution.

Abstract

The 3D flying shape of a real-scale 8 square meters iQFOiL class windsurf sail is measured in steady state sailing configurations. The sea wind flow conditions are simulated in a large-scale wind tunnel and stereo camera imaging technique ensure the flying shape reconstruction. Sail form reconstruction allows to measure the twist of the sail profiles from bottom to top. Simultaneous aerodynamic forces and moments applied to the sail are measured via an embedded force balance. With the measured forces and moments the lift, drag and roll coefficients are determined for various wind intensity. A systematic reduction of these coefficients is observed as compared to previous studies on reduced-scale rigid sail model. We suggest that the sail deformation in the wind is crucial to explain these reductions.