Analysis of Wave Resistance in the Design of the 12-Meter Yacht Stars & Stripes

Abstract

During the design of the 12-Meter yacht Stars & Stripes, the design team placed great emphasis upon the minimization of all forms of hydrodynamic resistance: skin friction, lift-induced drag, form drag, and wave resistance. In this paper, the authors discuss methods used to measure, predict, and minimize the wave resistance of 12-Meter yachts. After a brief review of wave resistance theory, the authors discuss a method by which the wave resistance was determined directly from measured wave profiles. Numerical techniques used to theoretically predict the curves of wave resistance from the yacht designers' description of hull geometry are examined, and the predictions are compared with the experimentally determined wave resistance. Finally, the authors discuss hull optimization techniques, based upon the minimization of the theoretical wave resistance, which enable the yacht designers to develop hull shapes of minimum wave drag.