Abstract:
A velocity prediction program or VPP attempts to predict the performance of any arbitrary
yacht in arbitrary wind conditions. The aim of this work has been to develop a fast and
accurate VPP for use in yacht design. The modelling of the yacht is discussed in detail
and some different approaches to this which have appeared in the literature are reviewed.
Yacht velocity prediction is formulated as an optimisation problem and a number of
different nonlinear programming routines are investigated to compare how they perform
on this problem.
Some new applications for VPPs are investigated. Optimisation is applied to yacht design
which could be especially useful for determining the best tradeoffs where the yacht
designs are subject to complicated design rules. The VPP is configured to calibrate its
own model to correspond to observed yacht performance.