WB-Sails - Aerodynamics
htm
Articles about Aerodynamics
Advances in sail aerodynamics
Sail aerodynamics - part two
Sail Dynamic Simulation
Streamlines & swirls
WindTunnel Movies
Sails shape & aerodynamics
The Quest for the Perfect Shape
BoatRace
Note on the effect of side bend
Anatomy of a Mini-Transat
SailTrimSim
Mini boat - Maxi challenge
SailPowerCalc
Mini boat - Maxi challenge
470 Aerodynamics
Lifting bows with foresails
StressMapper
Telling tales ...
MacSail
The scientific Finn
Wind tunnel images
1/4
https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/209338/news/Ad_aerodynamics/index2.
Advances in sail aerodynamics - part two
The wide spread use of lift and drag is another heritage from aircrafts. When it comes to sailboat
>
aerodynamics, drive and heel are more appropriate and descriptive, after all the sailboat is driven by the wind,
unlike the airplane which is lifted in the air. Drive is in the direction of the motion of the boat, heel tends to
lean the boat over, while the directions of lift and drag don't have such an obvious link to boat performance. At
apparent wind angles over 90 degrees drag even adds to the drive of a sailboat, so when it comes to sailboat
aerodynamics drag has a very different role from airplanes.
For the underwater hull, lift and drag are most appropriate: drag acts directly opposite to drive, and lift directly
opposite to heel. Heeling moment is an important factor when it comes to sailboats, while the equivalent rolling
moment is fairly unimportant in the case of airplanes.
Click on "hotspots" below for more on the subject:
Foot vortex & leeward side separation
When you bear away from the wind and don't ease the sheet,
separation takes place through a different mechanism. There
is always a vortex present at the foot of the jib (similarly
under the boom of the mainsail), where the sail meets with
the deck. This is independent of the fact whether the foot
touches the deck or not, although a gap between the foot and
the deck does accentuate the strength of the vortex.
When you bear away, airflow on the leeward side behind the
jib first detaches at the very tack, streaming up the luff before
bending backwards into the foot vortex. A triangular area of
stalled air is spreading up from the foot of the genoa or the
jib, increasing in extent as you turn away from the wind. This
disturbance causes a similar streak of separation on the
mainsail, too, extending from above the tack towards the
leech.
The conventional belief, borrowed from airplanes, that the
triangular jib is a "tip-staller", is untrue. The jib is so twisted,
and the narrow head so close to the mainsail, that flow
remains attached in the head while separation spreads from
the tack to the clew and then up the leech.
Massive flow separation on the leeward side of a modern IRC
boat, and a Star jib, at angles close to stall. Blue colors show
areas of flow separation, re3d colors mean accelerated flow
(pressure drop or suction).
Click on the pictures for more...
[top]
2018.01.24. 8:35
WB-Sails - Aerodynamics https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/209338/news/Ad_aerodynamics/index2.htm

Heel effects on flow pattern

Heel has an important effect on air flow over the sails.

Partially the reason is that heel reduces the sails' angle of
attack. This can be understood if you think that you would
heel the boat over 90 degrees, then the Windex would
inevitably fly straight back, indicating a zero angle.

Heel influences flow also otherwise - separation behind the jib

tack is greatly reduced, and so is the vortex under the the
boom, as the windward rail rises in front of the sails when the
boat is heeled. Air flow is bent more and more upwards on the
windward side of the sails, as heel increases.

Heel effects: Above, flow separating at the foot at zero heel.

Below, no separation at all at 20 degrees of heel.

The reason could be on one hand that heel reduces the

effective angle of attack, and on the other hand that the deck
rises in front the jib foot, and the leeward side of the jib gets
closer to the sea surface.

Click on the picture for more...

[top]

Jib head vortex on the main

As always at the tips of airfoils, there is a vortex forming

behind the leech of the jib towards the head. When this vortex
travels behind the leeward side of the main, it bends
streamlines above itself away from the surface of the main,
effectively "ripping off" the flow from the main surface at the
hounds level and a little above it. This can be seen on the
simulation as a triangular, disturbed air area. Above this area,
closer to the top the flow can still be attached.

Lower fractional rigs (7/8-rigs) suffer more from this than

masthead or high fractional rigs. This could be one reason that
9/10-rigs have grown in popularity lately.

Above: A large separation area, shown in blue, in the leech of

the mainsail. The vortex from the head of the jib bends the
flow loose of the mainsail surface just above the hounds.

Below: Separation caused by the sprit on the inside of an

Optimist sail.

Click on the picture for more...

[top]

2/4 2018.01.24. 8:35

WB-Sails - Aerodynamics https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/209338/news/Ad_aerodynamics/index2.htm

Vortex behind the mast

On the leeward side of the main, right behind the mast we

have the dreaded "separation bubble" caused by the mast -
largely the culprit for the bad reputation of the mast. It turns
out this is not a separation bubble in the meaning of the word,
but rather a separation vortex with similarities to that on the
inside of the jib.

The vortex on the leeward side of the main is confined to a

relatively narrow area behind the mast. The air sucked in
below the tack of the sail rises towards the top of the mast.
The flow most always reattaches on the surface of the main
relatively soon behind the mast.

In case of a fractional rig, the vortex is intensified by a new

stream of air behind the hounds, creating an effective suction
on the front side of the top mast. Thus the mast seems to
benefit from what the mainsail loses in the separation area at
the leeward side of its luff.

Above: A narrow whirl of dead air creeping up the backside of

the mast.

Below: Separation vortex behind a classic 6mR mast .

Click on the picture for more...

[top]

Think one

To understand how the mainsail and the jib work together, it

may be useful to think of them as one wing with a slot in the
middle. The jib forms the front part of the wing (leading edge
in aircraft terminology) and the mainsail forms the back part
(trailing edge). The jib is the curved, smooth shaped front part
of the wing, the main is the more straight, flat part. When you
adjust the main sheet or traveler, you adjust the camber of
the whole wing in a very smooth way, around the hinge that
the mast forms.

When you keep in mind that pressure always acts

perpendicular to the surface, it is easy to see why the jib
usually is in charge of most of the forward driving force, while
the main causes most only heel. When sailing upwind most of
the surface of the jib is oriented in the direction of the motion,
while most of the surface of the main is oriented perpendicular
to it, the leech often even pulling back. But it would be wrong
to think that the jib is more important for that. The mainsail is
bending the air in front of the jib, allowing the boat to point
higher than with the jib alone, and also helping the jib bear
more loading without stalling.

[top]

Air in the slot - accelerated or not?

The old question about the slot effect seems to have a

different answer depending on how you define "slot", and also
how you define to accelerate:

If you consider the slot as the area between the mast and
forestay, in front of the mast, then the air is slowing down.
But if you define the slot as the area between the mainsail and
the genoa behind the mast (like I would), then air is definitely
accelerating in the slot, as witnessed by the colors turning
from yellow to orange and red, when the air moves from the
mast towards the leech of the genoa. You can try this
yourself: When you stand of the fore-deck, the wind is lame,
but when you walk back into the slot between the main an the
genoa, you really feel the wind blowing in your face by the
time you reach the genoa leech.

This acceleration is relative, however, the airspeed is not

faster in the slot area than in case the mainsail were alone,

3/4 2018.01.24. 8:35

WB-Sails - Aerodynamics https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/209338/news/Ad_aerodynamics/index2.htm

without any jib at all. The main effect of the genoa or jib is to
slow down the air speed in the front part of the main, no
Venturi-effect there.

Click on the picture for more...

[top]

var _hsq = _hsq || []; _hsq.push(["setContentType", "standard-page"]); _hsq.push(["setCanonicalUrl", "http\x3A\x2F\x2Fwww.wb\x2Dsails.fi\x2Ffi

\x2F"]); _hsq.push(["setPageId", "957227"]); (function(d,s,i,r){ if (d.getElementById(i)){return;} var
n=d.createElement(s),e=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; n.id=i;n.src='//js.hubspot.com/analytics/'+(Math.ceil(new Date()/r)*r)+'/209338.js';
e.parentNode.insertBefore(n,e); })(document,"script","hs-analytics",300000);

4/4 2018.01.24. 8:35