Page 23 - COMPOSITE SOLUTIONS - Fascicolo 2/2016 - Issue 2/2016

covering all major parts of the industry. Team Rafale grouped together aerospace engineers, as well as faculty members and students from ÉTS, who took on the ambitious challenge to design, build and race a C-Class catamaran in the ‘Little America’s Cup’ (Geneva Lake, Switzer- land, September 12th through 20th 2015). During this event, considered as the C-Class World Championship, they faced some of the biggest names of the sailing world including Franck Cammas, skipper of the America’s Cup team Groupama, Olympic sailors and several times world champions.
TAEM RAFALE SUCCESS STORY
"The HyperWorks advanced composite optimization process was a key factor in meeting our weight and strength targets
on Rafale's major components. The semi- automated process allowed the team to go through many more design iterations within a matter of hours rather than days." Julien Chaussée Lead Design Engineer and founder - Team Rafale – ÉTS
BUILDING A HIGH-SPEED, LIGHTWEIGHT CATAMARAN
The class rules were very simple: Build a catamaran less than 25ft long with a maximum width of 14ft and less than 300sq ft. sail area. These rules presented the participating teams with a challenging opportunity to drive innovation and use the best materials possible. For the students of the ÉTS Team Rafale, this was an especially formidable task as the catamaran needed to be built in less than 18 months. Although, the hydrofoils are less than two square feet
COSTRUIRE UN CATAMARANO SUPER VELOCE
I regolamenti di classe erano molto semplici:
Costruire un catamarano lungo meno di 25 piedi con una lar- ghezza massima di 14 e con una vela dalla superficie minore ai 300 piedi quadrati. Questi vincoli hanno offerto ai partecipanti un’avvincente opportunità di spingere al massimo sull’innovazione e impiegare i migliori materiali possibili. Per gli studenti dell’ÉTS Team Rafale, questa è stata una sfida formidabile, dato che il ca- tamarano doveva essere costruito in meno di 18 mesi. Sebbene gli hydrofoil fossero meno di due piedi quadrati nell’area di su- perficie, dovevano comunque essere in grado di sollevare l’intera imbarcazione e il suo equipaggio di due persone fuori dall’acqua. L’albero di 30 piedi, cuore della vela rigida, è in grado di sopporta- re circa 4000 libbre di compressione pur pesandone meno di 30.
PROGETTARE E OTTIMIZZARE UTILIZZANDO HYPERWORKS
Realizzare quanto detto sopra non è stata un’impresa da poco! Il Team Rafale ha iniziato a realizzare il catamarano a dicembre 2014 e ha terminato la fase di costruzione a metà luglio 2015. Il risultato è un catamarano con un design completamente in composito di fibra di carbonio, inclusa una vela rigida alta 45 piedi, dalla superficie di 300 piedi quadrati, e gli hydrofoil. Quest’ultimi avevano il compito
macchinari
advanced reinforcements
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Isola Fabrics S.r.l.
Via Matteotti 120-1
20861 Brugherio (MI), Italy +39-039-289-1647 +39-039-289-1690 www.isola-fabrics.com
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