Sustainable Boat Design: Politecnico di Torino's Success with HyperWorks

The 1001VELAcup is a competition where student teams from various universities design and build their own boats to compete in regattas. The boats must adhere to specific class rules, including size restrictions and the use of sustainable materials. The PoliTo Sailing Team from the Politecnico di Torino was one of the competing teams. Their challenge was to design a boat made with 70% sustainable material, within the given size restrictions, and using Altair‘s HyperWorks suite of computer aided engineering (CAE) tools. The team aimed to improve on their previous year's performance, where they achieved an eighth and third position in the regatta. The project focused on the design and construction of a skiff, a specific type of sailboat, within the given regatta regulation. The particular challenge was that the teams had to use a specific class of materials such as recyclable and natural materials, i.e. flax fiber, basalt fiber or wood. To develop a light and stiff boat structure with the given materials, the team had to use sophisticated modeling and simulation tools to find the ideal structural shape and material layout.

The PoliTo Sailing Team from the Politecnico di Torino is a team of 40 students divided into six groups: administration, structure, fluid dynamics, public relationship, materials, and sport. Founded in 2014, the team operates with a hierarchical structure, with a responsible manager or a team leader for each group. However, the individual opinion of each team member carries the same weight. The team also receives support from the university’s mechanical and aerospace engineering department. The basic idea behind the project is that even small teams, such as the PoliTo Sailing Team, can handle a project such as designing, building, and sailing a skiff composed of natural materials and learn from the experience.