It’s really important for us to be able to develop those tools. And it’s a remarkable tool, despite its limitations and differences, as Ben Ainslie explains: “To start off, there’s no apparent wind, or wind at all really, and there’s no water, so the seat of the pants feeling is very much reduced… but the simulator does have all the same HMI or control systems that we use to steer, trim and pilot the real boat. The simulator is the overall tool that lets the humans sail the whole package in a virtual world. And then a final layer of code must introduce the dynamic elements to enable a full-blown simulation of the boat’s performance with sailors in control of the rudder, and the trim of the foils and sails. These force vectors must then be combined in a traditional velocity prediction programme (VPP) to calculate the steady state speed of the AC75 in all conditions.
For instance, the performance of the rudder, the T-foils, and the rig and wingsail must be simulated with computational fluid dynamics (or CFD) software to know how much lift and drag the different foil elements can produce at all the different trim settings, wind speeds and angles. The computer code that makes this possible rests on many other subsidiary simulations. This simulator allows the crew to sail a virtual version of any AC75 for which the team has a CAD or 3D model. The most talked about tool is the full size simulator, which at INEOS Team UK consists of a motion platform, several sets of virtual reality goggles and all the same control hardware that’s used on the actual boat.
These rules move the battleground to a virtual arena, where a team’s ability to model and predict all the different aspects of the AC75’s performance will be definitive. The reason is simple: every other means of performance evaluation has been neutered – or, at the very least, significantly hampered – by the Protocol, which bans tow-tank and wind tunnel testing and sailing two AC75s at the same time.
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