The University of Southampton has been awarded a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in recognition of its innovation and world-leading expertise in performance sports engineering. As a major contributor to sports engineering and experimental testing carried out at the University of Southampton, the Wolfson staff are delighted that their activities have been recognised with such a reputable award.
The Wolfson Unit’s work over the last 40 years has made a major impact in the areas of yacht racing, such as the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Races, Olympic sports such as rowing, canoeing, wheelchair racing, dinghy sailing and most recently for track and road cycling. The Wolfson Unit was awarded UK Sport Innovation Partner status in 2008 and recent efforts have been focused on developments for London 2012.
For more information on our yacht testing and performance prediction services please see our Yacht Testing page.
For more information on our aerodynamics consultancy services see our aerodynamics page.
For more information on our facilities see our facilities page.
Over the next 2 months Andy Claughton will be attending 3 events in Europe related to developing more environmentally friendly ships and recreational craft.
The first is a Natural Propulsion Seminar at Marin on January 20th.
That will be followed by a visit to the Dusseldorf Boat Show to meet designers and builders of leisure craft who are looking at ways of reducing consumption of diesel fuel and creating more environmentally friendly craft.
Finally Andy is presenting a paper at the Environmentally Friendly Ship Conference at RINA HQ in London on the 28th and 29th February. The abstract of the paper is reproduced below
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SEAGATE COLLAPSIBLE SAIL SYSTEM FOR COMMERCIAL AND LEISURE USE
A R Claughton, Wolfson Unit, UK
In 1985 the Wolfson Unit conducted a comprehensive series of Wind Tunnel tests to explore the aerodynamic and structural characteristics of the mast and sails used by artisanal beach based fisherman. The results of these experiments showed the Crab Claw rig to have much better aerodynamic behaviour than the conventional Bermudan rigs, and also it was ideally suited to
construction from simple bamboo spars and flax sail cloth because of the low structural burden the sails placed on the rig. In short it was aerodynamically and structurally very efficient.
The paper will describe the aerodynamic development of the Seagate rig for leisure and commercial applications, and will describe the extensive study of fuel saving carried out for Wallenius & Wilhelmsen under the auspices of their ‘Orcelle’ Grant scheme. This simulated the performance of a bank of Seagate modules operating over a 3 year period using the weather data logged from operational vessels
Wolfson Unit papers can be downloaded from the published papers page of our website.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada recommends international adoption of safety guidance such as that developed by the Wolfson Unit.
The sail training ship Concordia was capsized by a squall off Brazil in February 2010. Fortunately, all 64 people on board were rescued after 2 days in life rafts. Barry Deakin assisted the Canadian investigators in their understanding of the event, and their report provides a very interesting account that should interest all who sail, regulate or assess the stability of sailing ships and large yachts. Their recommendations have implications for all in the international sail training industry, and we concur with them wholeheartedly.
Their recommendations are:
The Department of Transport ensure those officers to whom it issues sailing vessel endorsements are trained to use the stability guidance information that it requires to be on board sailing vessels.
The Department of Transport undertake initiatives leading to the adoption of international standards for sail training vessels on the provision of stability guidance to assist officers in assessing the risk of a knockdown and capsize, and for the training of officers in the use of this information.
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Wolfson Unit Online Store within the University of Southampton e-commerce website. The Online Store is available 24 hours a day, 365 days per year for purchasing software from our Design Suite, Hydrostatics and Stability Suite, Resistance and Propulsion Suite and our Onboard Programs. We can also address proposal-specific payments including additional licenses, network packages, educational discounts and software training fees. Our aim is to improve the way we sell our products, including a better customer service experience and a more efficient processing of payments.
Please follow this link to browse the Wolfson Unit Online Store.
The pages in which clients enter personal details or payment information are secured using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology provided by Thawte.
Payments can be made by credit or debit card issued by Visa, Delta, Mastercard, Solo, Maestro (if issued in the UK) and Visa Electron. All transactions are secure and encrypted by Thawte. The Online Store uses the ‘Mastercard SecureCode’ and ‘Verified by Visa’ technologies.
For further information on the Wolfson Unit Online Store please visit the Online Store FAQ page.
We are looking for an engineer to join one of the University’s most successful consultancy units, providing a commercial service to industry. This is an opportunity to become part of a team with a world-wide reputation for excellence and independence, and will appeal particularly to those with an interest in sailing or other marine activities.
The closing date for this post is 17 November 2011.
For more information on this vacancy please see our careers page.
Ian has been a prominent member of the Wolfson Unit since 1973, when he was appointed to conduct consultancy work on marine structures. His previous industrial posts with Rolls Royce and Vickers Shipbuilding Group ensured that he brought with him a clear understanding of the demands of industry, and the need to provide a practical solution to a client’s problem. All who have worked with him know that this quality is complemented by his natural desire to research a problem thoroughly, and he has taught many of the younger engineers who have worked alongside him the importance of painstaking care and diligence in experimental work.
He has earned great respect from his clients and is well known around the world for his expertise in hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, particularly in their application to yacht performance, as well as in modern materials technology and structures.
A retirement party was held this week, which was a wonderful reunion of current and past members of the Wolfson Unit and the Ship Science department of the University, together with some of Ian’s clients who have become close personal friends.
His popularity around the University ensured that he went away with an assortment of gifts and souvenirs, and his colleagues at the Wolfson Unit presented him with one that perhaps only Ian would want. In a frame they constructed from an unwanted part of the University’s R.J.Mitchell wind tunnel were three glass flasks containing samples of water from two of the towing tanks, and air from the wind tunnel, in which Ian has conducted countless model tests during his 38 years of service.
We all wish him a very happy and active retirement and, while Ian jokes that he is the only structural member of the Unit, we’re confident that it won’t collapse without him. Indeed we expect to see him around our offices frequently as he has been granted the status of Emeritus Fellow by the University so that he can continue to pursue some research interests here.
For more information on the Wolfson Unit engineers see our staff page.
Barry Deakin took part in a Forum on Small Fishing Vessel Safety held at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in London in July. The aim of the meeting was to address the question “What can naval architects do to improve the safety of fishing vessels below 15m?” The event brought together members of the RINA Safety Committee, and representatives of the MCA, MAIB, Seafish, IMO, RNLI, and a fishermen’s association.
Barry has been involved with this subject for many years and presented his view that naval architects can provide good, simple guidance on the operational level of safety of small fishing boats. They, and the fishing industry, need encouragement from the MCA to implement such guidance and Barry was critical of the Governments Agency’s efforts in that respect.
The presentations were interesting and prompted some worthwhile discussion, although much of it was somewhat wide of the stated objective. We look forward to a report on the event from the RINA, and some progress towards a safer industry.
For further information on ship safety-related services and projects please see our Ship Safety page.
The Wolfson Unit are pleased to announce the arrival of new engineer, Lloyd Jones.
Lloyd has several years experience conducting research in the fields of computational aerodynamics and aeroacoustics, on topics such as airfoil aerodynamics, laminar-turbulent transition mechanisms, separation bubble behaviour and airfoil self-noise. Lloyd's expertise is in the application and development of computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
For more information on the Wolfson Unit engineers see our staff page.
The Wolfson Unit MTIA has recently commissioned a bespoke load monitoring system to Baltic Yachts. The system has been fitted onboard the 67m Hetairos ketch, ex Panamax project, which is now undergoing sea trials.
This unique 220 tons ketch with its very special philosophy, including extremely high-technology materials and building techniques as well as a large number of pioneering solutions never seen on sailing yachts before, in combination with its custom classic design, has been one of the most challenging projects in the world.
The onboard system delivered by the Wolfson Unit is based on the CANbus technology and includes eight purpose-built LBSS (Long Base Strain Sensors) designed by former Unit engineer Peter Weynberg and Dr. Paolo Manganelli of Gurit, and the LyDams software (Large Yacht Data Acquisition, Monitoring and Storage), conceived and developed by Matteo Scarponi of the Wolfson Unit.
LyDams provides real time information on the vessel’s state, in the form of sensor readouts, statistical information, warnings and alarms. The program has built-in damage models which take into account the loading history for each sensor.
The LyDams version developed for Hetairos collects a large quantity of onboard data, including:
hull and deck strain data from the LBSS;
load data from load pins fitted to the rigging and winches;
torque data from the foresails’ furlers;
pressure data from hydraulic cylinders fitted to the runners.
Martin Flink of Flink Engineering, responsible for all electrical systems and installations onboard Hetairos, has been working in close connection with Matteo and Peter throughout the project. Martin notes: ‘In a project of this magnitude there are a lot of last minute changes. I am very impressed by the flexibility of the Wolfson Unit team. It’s a great feeling working with people who share the same heartfelt love for the art of sailing.’
Photo credit: Baltic Yachts
Visit our Software Page to see the full range of Wolfson Unit Software.
The Wolfson Unit has been involved in the development of the new J-class Handicap System which was used successfully for the first time in Newport Regatta last month. In one race, Ranger and Velsheda were separated by only one second on corrected time.
The Wolfson Unit has a long history of working in the field of yacht rating rules and performance evaluation of sailing yachts, further details can be found in our published papers page.
The current edition of Seahorse magazine (August) has various articles relating to work conducted by the Wolfson Unit. Any Claughton describes the ACRM Shared Design Package for the new AC 72 catamaran, Rolf Vrolijk details the design developement of the new 72ft Bella Mente which involved the Wolfson Unit tank testing several models, and the article by Jason Ker and Dave Lenz shows how they have put one of the CFD packages offered by the Wolfson Unit to good use in the development of sail wardrobes.
The Wolfson Unit are pleased to announce the arrival of new engineer, Richard Pemberton.
Richard was previously a self-employed yacht design consultant, with clients including Humphreys Yacht Design, Warsash Maritime Academy and North Sails. He has primarily been involved in sailing yacht performance, having been a team member of GBR Challenge and United Internet Team Germany in the America's Cup, Team Russia in the Volvo Ocean Race and Vestas Sailrocket for the overall speed sailing record. Richard's expertise is in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as well as overall performance analysis.
For more information on the Wolfson Unit engineers see our staff page.
Many of our Engineers go sailing and last Saturday Ian Campbell raced his family yacht Shadowfax in the Round the Island Race with friends and fellow consultant John Dixon from ISVR Consulting Services. Ian and John have been working together on ship vibration problems but on Saturday they had to contend with conditions that forced 436 retirements.
Everything went well on board Shadowfax, a good lay-line was picked around the Needles, an asymmetric was set after blowing out the spinnaker and downwind in the 4 metre waves off St Catherine’s Point knowledge from many wind tunnel sail tests was put to use by setting twin headsails wing and wing. Shadowfax, a 30 year old IOR cruiser-racer designed by former University of Southampton student Stephen Jones, performed as well as many modern yachts and with an elapsed time of under 8 hours was placed 3rd in division and 35th overall, out of the 680 finishers racing under the Island Sailing Club Rating System.
Andy Claughton of the Wolfson Unit is co-ordinating the Shared Design Package for the AC 72 Catamaran that is offered by ACRM (America’s Cup Race Management) for Challengers for the 34th America’s Cup.
Andy travelled to Auckland attend the Challengers Forum, and to sail and observe the AC45’s during their test regatta.
Working with VPLP, HDS, and the North Technology Group offers a unique opportunity to work on a ground breaking design with some of the industries leading designers and technicians. The new catamarans are unusual in using a combination of a wing mast (a la C Class cats) and soft sails. This presents entirely novel structural and aerodynamic, not to mention boat handling challenges.
After 2 weeks of racing a clear picture is emerging about what is required to create spectacular racing and fast boats.
More details of the package can be found on the
AC34 website.
Barry Deakin has been awarded the Royal Institution of Naval Architects’ Medal of Distinction for his paper Collating evidence for a universal method of safety assessment or guidance. The paper, which was published in the 2010 Transactions, describes a new method of safety assessment that relates the size and stability of the vessel to the seastate. It can be used for any size or type of vessel. The method can be used to assess intact or damage stability at an early design stage or for regulatory purposes, but the simplicity of the method and its relation to operational factors also make it very suitable as a basis for safety guidance. It is hoped that this award will help to promote the method to the industry. The medal will be presented by the President of the Institution at the Annual General Meeting on the 13th April.
Barry has received two previous awards for papers published in the RINA Transactions: a Medal of Distinction in 2007 and a Silver Medal in 1992.
The Wolfson Software pricelist has been updated and is now available for download, price changes will become effective on 4th April 2011. Limited time offer: all purchases over £850 will receive our plotting program GoPlot (worth £250) free of charge.
The new pricelist can be downloaded here (PDF, 74KB).
Visit our Software Page to see the full range of Wolfson Unit Software.
Salary - £27,428 – £33,734 (Level 4), or £34,745- £44,016 (Level 5) per annum
We are seeking an engineer to join one of the University’s most successful industrial units to provide consultancy using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
The engineer’s primary role will be solving hydrodynamic and aerodynamic problems using computational techniques for commercial clients. This comprises of using, maintaining and developing the computational modelling capabilities of the Wolfson Unit. In addition, the successful applicant will be expected to formulate and write a range of software and participate in the other activities of the Wolfson Unit.
The applicant should have at least an engineering or physics based degree; a higher level qualification and/or professional experience will be of benefit. An ability to demonstrate knowledge and use of CFD is essential, preferably with code development skills and/or a working knowledge of OpenFOAM. Applications are welcomed from suitably qualified candidates (as detailed above). The appointment and appointment title will be dependent on your skills, experience and expertise in line with the requirements of the post.
Almost five years after we completed our work for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to develop a simple method of stability and loading guidance for fishermen, an MGN (Marine Guidance Note) has been published to inform the industry. The Wolfson method of guidance is one of five options suggested by which owners of small fishing vessels can fulfil their legal obligation to consider the safety of the operation of their vessel. Numerous meetings have taken place between the MCA and representatives of the fishing industry to discuss the subject, in particular at meetings of the Stability Sub Group of the Fishing Industry Safety Group, which Barry Deakin attends as the independent expert.
We are pleased that the recommendations now have the support of the MCA and have been made available as one of the tools by which the safety of the fishing industry might be improved. The method provides only the simplest approximate guidance on the level of safety, but costs nothing to implement and can be produced in a few minutes using a calculator which can be downloaded free from our Ship Safety page.
The complete MGN can be obtained from the MCA website.
The Wolfson Unit are pleased to announce a new collaboration with North Sails, allowing sail designers to easily access modern high performance Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) tools and facilities. The aerodynamic simulation package was conceived and developed between Sandy Wright of the Wolfson Unit and Jeremy Elliott of North Sails. The system brings together the University’s recently installed Iridis 3 supercomputer and the Open Source code OpenFOAM within a framework that connects the designers’ desktop to the OpenFOAM cluster without any third party intervention
Totally automated system running 24/7
Quick turnaround via the Iridis 3 supercomputer at the University of Southampton
Concurrent solution of multiple cases
Images, visualisation files and pressure files automatically created for direct input to North Sails Membrain structural analysis code
No additional software required to run rig and sail cases
Masts, hulls, booms and other solid objects can be included in the geometry
After extensive development and testing during 2010, the system is now fully operational and in use by a number of different sail designers around the world. If you are interested in the use of CFD for design development or evaluation, either as a one off solution to a problem, or as a semi-automated process for repeat cases please contact Sandy Wright at the Wolfson Unit (wumtia@soton.ac.uk / +44(0)23 8058 5044) to discuss how we can help you.
The Wolfson Unit would like to congratulate the project team of Kokomo upon winning the award for Best sailing superyacht over 40 metres at the recent International Superyacht Society awards in Fort Lauderdale.
The Unit carried out a series of model scale towing tank tests for Dubois Naval Architects Ltd to assist the designers in optimising the hydrodynamic performance of this 58 metre sloop.
The Unit has had a long association with the Dubois office, helping them develop hull and keel configurations to accommodate lifting keel and other effective appendages for these large sailing yachts. All this design development has created yachts with good sailing performance (near to race standard) and ease of handling, within design constraints such as moderate draught.
Images courtesy of Dubois Naval Architects Ltd and Chris Lewis
For more information on our yacht testing and performance prediction services please see our Yacht Testing page.
Heesen Yachts has unveiled the revolutionary 65-meter, all-aluminum design based on the Fast Displacement Hull Form (FDHF), whose tank testing has been completed at the Wolfson Unit in Southampton (UK). Developed by Dutch naval architects Van Oossanen & Associates, the Heesen 6500 FDHF is a truly innovative concept that increases the overall performance of the superyacht.
Tank tests have shown that in comparison with traditional hard chine and round bilge hulls, FDHF improves the efficiency of the vessel by around 30%. The slenderness and special form of the hull result in a very low wave profile over the entire speed range, while also improving its sea-keeping and maneuverability. As a consequence, it has a very positive impact on the cost of running the yacht, while also lowering its environmental impact in terms of engine emissions.
Heesen Yachts presented this innovative 65-meter design to the yachting community on September 22nd 2010 at the Monaco Yacht Show.
Images courtesy of Heesen Yachts and Van Oossanen & Associates bv
For more information on our range of services see our services page.
The 50m superyacht Exuma, is the first hull of the Vitruvius series, born from the collaboration between Vitruvius Ltd, Philippe Briand and the Perini Navi Group. The aluminium hull follows the principles of the Briand Optimized Stretched (BOS®) Hull and is characterized by streamlined, limited waterline length and a straight and deep bow.
Exuma has been awarded the GREEN Yacht of the Year award as well as the GREEN PLUS PLATINUM certificate in recognition for her proven commitment to environmental excellence. RINA’s GREEN PLUS notation is based on an environmental performance index, which covers all aspects of the vessel’s impact on the environment, including but not limited to carbon emissions.
From the outset of the design process, the owner, the architects, Philippe Briand, Vitruvius Yachts Ltd and the shipyard, Picchiotti, were determined to create and build the ultimate environmentally friendly explorer yacht.
The main contributing factor is the Briand optimized hull form. The hull has a stretched waterline length which has been extensively tank-tested by the Wolfson Unit. The hull has a reduced transom immersion and a plumb bow. The clean aft sections allow for easy flow on the propellers. The Vitruvius Picchiotti has notably balanced superstructure volumes resulting in further weight savings. She has a lower centre of gravity, resulting in less pitching and rolling, which minimizes added drag associated to ship motions.
Images courtesy of Vitruvius Ltd. and Philippe Briand Ltd.
For more information on our range of services see our services page.
We wished a happy retirement last week to Peter Weynberg, who has been a key member of the Wolfson Unit since 1971. After an early career at sea, as an officer on merchant vessels, he graduated in Nautical Studies in Southampton and joined the Wolfson Unit. In the early years he developed various computer programs and started the Unit’s bureau service for hydrostatic and stability calculations, which was in great demand in the 1970’s when computers were beyond the reach of most design offices. He also developed expertise in the experimental work that has always been central to the Unit’s work, and his understanding of electronics was invaluable in designing, building and maintaining much of the instrumentation used. He was a fundamental part of many of the large projects undertaken by the Unit, but because of his reluctance to write papers or seek credit, his name is not as well known in the industry as perhaps it should be. His natural ability for a clear analytical approach to problem solving will be greatly missed by his colleagues.
The leaving gift for the man who has everything he needs was a half model of the sail training ship Sir Winston Churchill, in which Peter sailed many voyages as navigator or mate, and on which he met his wife.
The Fraserburgh trawler “Virtuous”, designed by Ian Paton of S.C. McAllister, and built in Whitby by Parkol Marine Engineering, has completed its first fishing voyages and confirmed the fuel savings predicted from the Wolfson Unit’s model tests. The vessel is a twin-rig prawn trawler of 23 metres, and the fuel consumption reduction of around 20% compared to similar vessels will save the owners around £50,000 per year at today's fuel prices.
The owners asked the designer for a hull with fuel efficiency optimised when towing, which represents about 85% of the voyage cycle, and the ability to maintain speed when towing into heavy weather without a significant increase in power. Initial discussions were for a 21 metre vessel, but the Green Trawler project conducted by the Wolfson Unit for Promara revealed that dramatic fuel savings could be achieved with modest length increases. The tests also showed that seakeeping performance would be much improved, with greater comfort and less added resistance in waves, and this has been borne out by the first two voyages which included fishing in northerly gales. The vessel is longer and more slender than other modern vessels, with less curvature in the afterbody giving improved flow to the propeller.
The owners are delighted with the vessel and praise the designer and yard for delivering a vessel that met, and in some aspects exceeded, their specification. At the Wolfson Unit we are pleased to have been able to contribute to its development.
For more information on the Green Trawler project see:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A “GREEN TRAWLER”
Dominic Rihan, Noel O’Regan and Barry Deakin
First International Symposium On Fishing Vessel Energy Efficiency ‘E-Fishing’, Vigo, Spain, May 2010.
The Wolfson Unit has released a demonstration version of HST Onboard, a stand-alone program designed for use by bridge personnel in order to compute vessel-specific sailing state, stability and longitudinal strength information in any loaded condition. Please follow this link or visit our software page to download the HST Onboard demo.
The program is supplied with data files, which define the vessel's geometric shape and loaded conditions, including capacity data for all of the tanks. HST Onboard enables the operator to:
Select and edit loaded condition information;
Verify the vessel’s compliance with intact stability requirements, as set in the Stability Booklet;
Show and print reports, which may be used as the ship’s official record at the time of departure.
HST Onboard uses the functionalities of HST (the Wolfson Unit's hydrostatics, stability and tank capacities program) and those of HST Loading (that calculates weights and centres, loading conditions, longitudinal strength, maximum KG and intact stability criteria). The program uses the hull definition from HST.
The analysis tools available to yacht designers are becoming more sophisticated and quicker and cheaper to run, what needs to develop in parallel with this is a software infrastructure that reduces the burden of communication between collaborating technical groups.
In developing the innovative WinDesign 6 VPP the aim has been three fold:
to provide extended functionality in terms of force and moment balance, component based force models, and improved geometry input;
to provide a platform that allows geometry and results to be exchanged securely and accurately among project collaborators;
to create a VPP frame work that can integrate with the wide range of experimental and Computational tools now available.
The WinDesign 6 Seminar at the University of Southampton on September 16th not only offers a preview of the WinDesign 6 VPP but also the development of the collaboration tool ‘Brio’ and the open source RANS CFD code ‘OpenFOAM’. WinDesign 6 has been developed to integrate seamlessly with these tools.
The second International Conference on Innovation in High Performance Sailing Yachts (INNOV’SAIL) took place in Lorient on 30th June-1st July 2010. Andy Claughton presented a paper on the prediction and optimisation of off wind sails, which attempted to draw together the latest experimental and computational techniques available to designers.
The conference did exactly what it said on the tin, practitioners from the world’s leading academic and research institutions explained their latest work on Computational Fluid Dynamics, physical model testing and fluid structure interaction methods. The papers all discussed applications to real design questions on the latest racing yachts.
Key themes:
Data management through the design, build and full scale testing process.
Developing the VPP to work with a wide variety of force data inputs, and the associated data handling issues.
Developments of hydrodynamic force models based on standard series tests.
Optimisation methods and neural networks/genetic algorithms to develop optimum design solutions.
Fluid structure interaction, sails on masts, water on hulls and hydrofoils, how to best calculate the influences of fluid force on a flexible structure, and vice versa. How can these tools be coupled with more and more accurate CFD solutions.
Improving the robustness and timeliness of high performance computing resources so they can become part of the everyday design process, not just preserve of AC teams.
Overall a very successful conference with nearly 150 attendees, inflated a little by the good deal for students. Stand by for an even bigger event in 2012 when the 3rd edition is scheduled to coincide with the Volvo stopover. In 2 years time there may be some problems looking for solutions, rather than the other way round.
Some Wolfson Unit clients have recently requested information on the use of Wolfson software on MAC machines. All Wolfson software is developed for Windows/PC but can run on a MAC if a Windows environment is made available through a virtualization tool such as the free Virtual Box program.
All Wolfson software has been tested on a MAC machine with MAC OS X 10.6 Leopard installed and Virtual Box 3.2.4 and the programs all appear to function correctly. Our trials were conducted using Windows 7 64-bit as a guest operating system.
The Wolfson Unit has obtained a digital Software Publisher Certificate (SPC) from a trusted Certification Authority, which has now been built into all our installations and executables in the form of a Microsoft Authenticode® digital signature. This ensures that the software downloaded from our website and the programs supplied in the Wolfson Software CD Rom actually come from us and have not been tampered with since their publication.
The digital signature of our programs can be inspected by right-clicking any Wolfson executable and then selecting Properties > Digital Signatures.
Our clients using Windows Vista and Windows 7 will notice that the warning messages issued by the operating system when installing or running our software have disappeared. Depending on the personal User Account Control settings, the operating system may now bring up a dialog (below) asking for permission to continue and showing a link to our Software Publisher Certificate.
The Wolfson Unit will be at NAVALIA, the International Shipbuilding and Maritime Industry Exhibition in Vigo from the 18th to 20th May.
We shall have a stand in the Research and Development area of the exhibition, and Barry Deakin will present the first paper of the e-fishing conference that will be held in the same building. This will be the 1st International Symposium on Fishing Vessel Energy Efficiency, and Barry will present a paper on ‘The Development of a Green Trawler’ in conjunction with Promara Ltd. and the Irish Sea Fisheries Board.
After the presentation the paper will be available on the published papers page of our website.
Barry Deakin attended the second Chesapeake Powerboat Symposium in Annapolis last week to deliver a presentation on recent developments in testing radio controlled models. The event saw a gathering of 130 delegates, representing several European and some Asian countries in addition to the inevitable majority from the USA. The symposium followed the highly successful format which has become familiar at the Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium, which has been held every other year since 1974.
The papers and presentations were of a high technical standard, and delivered much valuable information from practitioners in the industry. Many conference proceedings comprise reports of incremental advances in academic research, but these are not a feature of the Chesapeake symposia.
For more information on our range of services see our services page.
Self propelled models under radio control have been used for many years to assess the manoeuvring and handling of ships. The limitations for testing small, fast craft have been linked to the low model weight required and the ability to install enough power, as well as the cost of modelling. Engineers at the Wolfson Unit have developed test methods appropriate for studying the particular problems of small craft, with small budgets, but model speed has always been limited by the available components.
Recent advances in motor and battery technology, the availability of model water jet drives, and developments in small data logging and GPS systems have enabled cost effective modelling of very fast craft. Their handling characteristics can now be assessed accurately at an early stage of the design. This helps to ensure a successful boat, determine the acceptable boundaries of the design, or modify it to eliminate any problems found.
The video below shows typical high speed manoeuvring trials conducted by the Wolfson Unit, courtesy of Tehnomont Shipyard, Pula, Croatia. All our free-running trials are conducted in the Southampton area, where large sheltered spaces are available.
For more information on our range of services see our services page.
The Wolfson Unit wishes to congratulate gold medal winner Amy Williams and the British Bob Skeleton team on their fantastic result in Vancouver. The UK Sport Research and Innovation Performance team has funded a four-year research programme at the University of Southampton to help improve understanding of bob skeleton performance. The research has been conducted by Engineering Doctorate students Rachel Blackburn and James Roche, under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Turnock with the support of Wolfson Unit staff.
Unit Engineers have had the privilege of working with top athletes in a number of sports, notably the British Cycling team, helping them win Gold in Beijing. The Unit has also worked in close contact with the rowing, sailing and canoeing squads towards the 2008 Olympics, where the target number of medals has been exceeded. The Unit prides itself in having assisted both athletes and technical staff over the last few years, focussing on direct performance gains and improving understanding of the complex physics involved.
WUMTIA is one of eight organisations chosen as Innovation Partners to UK Sport’s Research and Innovation programme, providing support to the UK's best athletes and coaches so that they can reach their full potential in the Olympics and other international competitions.
The Wolfson Unit is pleased to announce the launch of Hullscant Rudder, an additional module within Hullscant. The new module calculates the structural properties of a vessel’s spade rudder, and compares it to the requirements of ISO 12215 Part 8. The Rudder module uses the boat definition from HullScant.
New clients can purchase Hullscant plus the Hullscant Rudder module for £1275. Existing Hullscant customers can upgrade to the new module for £300, which includes full support from Wolfson Unit engineers. The new program can be downloaded from the Customers Download area of our website and existing hardware locks will be updated remotely.
If you would like to order the new program, please complete our Software Order Form and email or fax to us. The Wolfson Unit staff will be pleased to discuss the new program if you have any further queries.
Visit our Software Page to download the Hullscant Rudder datasheet and to see the full range of Wolfson Unit Software.
Ian Campbell used the Wolfson Unit’s WinDesign VPP to analyse the performance of Alinghi’s catamaran and BMW Oracle’s trimaran prior to the America’s Cup that was sailing in Valencia last week.
The predictions were published in the February edition of SAIL Magazine in the USA and included Polar curves and a table of winning times (below).
The rigs had changed considerably since the VPP predictions and in particular BMW Oracle had sprouted a wing rig that had grown even taller in Valencia. Jury rulings had also affected the boats. The outcome was, however remarkably close to the predictions and the key to success remained as predicted, a powerful rig attached to a stable platform proved fastest.
The Wolfson Unit was represented in Valencia by Ian Campbell and Andy Claughton and they hosted on their return a seminar attended by 80 University Ship Science staff and students that produced a very lively discussion about the racing and the boats.
More and more complex geometry definitions are making it harder and harder to do simple calculations. The editorial ‘Complex geometry, simple files’ written by Andy Claughton for ‘Ship & Boat International’ is focused on the effective manipulation of various Computer Aided Design (CAD) files and formats without losing important geometrical information. The editorial illustrates simple guidelines to obtain files for hydrostatics, stability, VPP and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) calculations with the help of commercial CAD packages and freeware software such as the Wolfson Unit‘s DXFtoLFH converter.
Barry Deakin will take part in the second Chesapeake Powerboat Symposium in Annapolis in March, to present a paper that he has written with Dickon Buckland.
Self propelled models under radio control have been used for many years to assess the manoeuvring and handling of ships. The limitations for testing small, fast craft have been linked to the low model weight required and the ability to install enough power, as well as the cost of modelling. Engineers at the Wolfson Unit have developed test methods appropriate for studying the particular problems of small craft, with small budgets, but model speed has always been limited by the available components.
Recent advances in motor and battery technology, the availability of model water jet drives, and developments in small data logging and GPS systems have enabled cost effective modelling of very fast craft. Their handling characteristics can now be assessed accurately at an early stage of the design. This helps to ensure a successful boat, determine the acceptable boundaries of the design, or modify it to eliminate any problems found.
For more information on our range of services see our services page.
The Wolfson Unit continues to work with a range of Olympic sports as UK Sport partners. The Unit has made extensive use of the University of Southampton wind tunnel facilities for sports including downhill skiing, as part of their aerodynamic development programme for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games.
Follow this link for a BBC video article from Ski Sunday.
Wolfson Unit MTIA, Building 15/A,
University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK Telephone: +44 (0)23 8058 5044
Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 7594
Email:wumtia@soton.ac.uk
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