THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS Design, Verification, and Forensic Correlation of Composite Yacht Structures

High performance marine composite structures are common in many competitive arenas. This paper highlights the lessons learned through analysis, testing and post-failure review of some of the composite structures used by Team Dennis Conner during the 2003 America’s Cup. Materials were almost exclusively carbon fibre/epoxy prepreg laminates cured at elevated temperature and pressure. Specific research topics included resin/fibre content, full-scale testing of portions of the deck and rig and forensic analysis of the rig and hull. A side note includes a discussion of another postaccident structural analysis. The primary structural analysis tool was finite element analysis, which was seen to be reliable. Computational fluid dynamics combined with historical on-board data were used to generate many structural loads. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~