The Universidad de Granada (UGR) and the Spanish Challenge for 2007 America’s Cup will remain historically linked, thanks to an agreement in which the University becomes the technical collaborator of the team representing Spain in the most important sail competition in the world. The technicians of the Wind Engineering Department of the Andalusian Centre for the Environment (CEAMA), coordinated by José María Terrés-Nicoli, will test the sensors of the ships participating in next year’s competition, held in Valencia (Spain), in the Wind Tunnel so as to optimise their performance.
Technical specifics which determine the shape, design and materials of ships and sails are among the most highlighted characteristics of this championship, held every four years since 1851. Each country’s participating challenge is strongly committed to the construction of one of the best ships, so that its design is entrusted to the most respected research centres .
For the whole 20th century (and particularly during the last fifteen years), the America’s Cup Committee defined ship’s dimensions and engineering in an increasingly detailed way. Therefore, in the 2003 competition, a good number of the sloops could be distinguished only by the hull’s colours and the publicity displayed on the sails. In the same vein, only the most developed countries’ teams can compete, not only because of the complexity of materials, design and construction, but also because of management and logistical constraints.
Towards the fastest sailing ship
As the technical collaborator of the Spanish challenge for 2007 America’s Cup, the Universidad de Granada will be entrusted the design of wind sensors for Spanish ships, optimising the existing sensors and incorporating new technologies so as to make Spanish sailing ships the fastest in the competition. “Our job will be to study which parts of the sails contribute to boost speed and which parts give a lower thrust to the ship,” explains José María Terrés. “In any case, he states, “what differentiates one ship from another is basically its sails technology”. The aforementioned sensors are mechanisms which allow measurements of the speed and the direction of winds in real time with the highest accuracy.
Together with the Universidad de Granada, Almunia University Polytechnic School in Zaragoza, Polytechnic University of Valencia, the National Centre of Supercomputation in Barcelona and the European University in Madrid have also been appointed as collaborators by the Spanish challenge for the 2007 America’s Cup. The agreement signed with the Universidad de Granada accounts for a maximum investment of 150,000 euros, to be paid to the University for the services provided.
References:
Prof. José Mª Terrés-Nicoli. Coordinator of the Wind Engineering Department of the CEAMA.
Phone no. +34 958 241 000 – Ext. 31155. E-mail : jterres@ugr.es
