FEM-aided structural design of a natural fiber composite made skiff

In racing boat design, the research is moved to find always the best compromise between performance and safety. The present work focuses on the description of the structural design cycle used by Polito Sailing Team during the realization of its new skiff, a high-performance sailing dinghy, built mainly with natural composite material such as balsa wood and flax fiber. The whole boat was completely designed by students, according to eco-sustainable principles, to participate in a universities competition called 1001VelaCup. To determinate the sandwich composite stratification, a benchmarking of materials was made by mechanical tests run according to ASTM 3039 and 3518 regulations. A finite element (FE) model was built to evaluate the static response of the structure, aiming to obtain a safe and light hull. The fluid (sea) interaction is modeled with a linear springs system. The crew, rig and rigging loads are obtained from a one-dimensional model and hydrodynamics pressure from ISO 12215-5:2014. The outputs obtained are consistent with the physics of the problem and the stresses distribution shows that the maximum stress is in the proximity of the mast base. This work constitutes the first step to obtain a correct, reliable and innovative design tool.