Oracle to use Numeca for CFD

Computational system have proved the past Cup that are an excellent theoretical… help, each year developments make tank testing to be more depreciated in the design stage, but still nothing beats an on the water sail to validate your numbers & design. You can´t trust 100% your desktop numbers yet to design breakthrough features and just go racing to win the ACup, but without a doubt they are key to new developments and provide a good base for every kind of project. 
I’ve use the Marine CFD services provided by Ralph Moolenaar for the F18 OP and the Surfski design. Will use it next for the Racinf SUP.
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Sent by OracleTeam Press: NUMECA, known as an innovative force in CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software, will power ORACLE TEAM USA’s design team as an Official Supplier.
“NUMECA has partnered with ORACLE TEAM USA to provide the design team with a comprehensive CFD analysis solution in its defense of the 35th America’s Cup,” said general manager Grant Simmer.

“In addition to delivering advanced simulation technology through its FineMarine software suite, NUMECA will be a significant contributor to our modeling activities by providing key numerical optimization tools, expert technical support, and aligning its software development roadmap with the design team’s modeling objectives.”

CFD has become critical for America’s Cup design teams as they move away from physical model testing to a combination of virtual design / performance prediction tools and on-water boat-on-boat testing.
“The CFD tool is important because it gives us an accurate description of the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic
forces that are acting on the boat, the wing and the appendages,” says ORACLE TEAM USA designer Len Imas.
“We can’t always measure these forces so we use the CFD tools to give us an accurate estimate of forces under different conditions when we design the boat.”

Imas says the NUMECA software tool does a better job of modeling the forces acting on foiling multihulls as they operate at speeds approaching 50 knots.

“This arrangement gives us a modeling tool that is able to capture the physics of boats moving at speed accurately,” Imas said. “We want to do a better job of predicting boat performance and working with NUMECA will start us down that path.”