September 20, 2021: "Design Challenges In High Performance Yacht Racing; Perspectives From Recent Americas Cup and Offshore Racing Design Campaigns"

• September 20, 2021
• 4:00 p.m.
• Len Imas, PhD, Maritime Applied Physics Corporation
• Faculty Host: Stefano Brizzolara

Abstract: The seminar will highlight some of the hydrodynamic and aerodynamic challenges faced in designing racing yachts such as foiling multihulls and monohulls sailed in recent Americas Cups as well as those sailed in long distance circumnavigation races such as the Vendee Globe and the Jules Verne. The presented material will describe general aspects of the aero/hydro design and performance prediction process and discuss how various CFD methodologies are applied in this workflow using several examples from recent designs.

Bio: Len Imas has participated in numerous design campaigns having worked with teams in six Americas Cups as well as several Volvo Ocean and Vendee Globe Races.  He was also an associate professor of ocean engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology where he oversaw a number of government and industry-supported research efforts in hydrodynamics and directed the undergraduate naval engineering program. His areas of expertise are in CFD and numerical optimization and their application to design problems in marine hydrodynamics and low speed aerodynamics.  He holds a BS and MEng. in aeronautical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic and a PhD in ocean engineering from MIT.