Abstract
Aerodynamics of sails in weakly sheared wind has been studied based on vortex mechanics. Assumptions of small disturbance simplify the basic equations, which show that the effective application of the rudder and coupled heeling and yawing motions give directional stability to sailing craft close to wind. Analysis has also revealed how heel-yaw motion and sheared wind affect the optimization of the thrust with constraints. The result has been compared with the present author's previous work that disregards the heel and the wind shear. While the optimum circulation is independent of the wind shear and the heel-yaw motion, the optimum geometry of sails is little affected by the wind shear. Closed-form solutions are given to represent the optimum design.
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