CapeHorn Engineering is a British SME which uses Computational Fluid Dynamics to design ocean-going racing yachts for competitions such as the Americas cup and the Volvo Ocean Race. Up to now, most of CapeHorn’s accomplishments have been achieved in conjunction with renowned sporting teams with large budgets. However, the relentless advance and wider availability of HPC resources and improvements in CFD tools now enable CapeHorn to design sailing and motor yachts involving more modest budgets. However, there still exist some barriers to the wider use of CFD by SMEs in this sector.
The perception that computationally demanding fluid flow simulations are unaffordable still prevails for most potential users. To overcome this perception, this experiment aims to develop a service which is easy to use and affordable by small end-users and which is available as a one-stop-shop. This service will provide an HPC-Cloud-based tool for the design of sails with better performance, not only for racing yachts, but also for any cruising yacht, large or small.
