Optimization of Sailcloth materials for better performance

• Main Author: Thein, Win.
• Other Authors: Leong Kah Fai
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Material testing and characterization
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/50071
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Sailing is a well-established sport and a way to enjoy leisure time in modern days. There are three main types of recreational sailing, namely, racing, cruising and amateur sailing. Even though sail makers had made their own recommendations for different purposes, the brochures are full of compliments about their sail. Also, there has not yet been any study done to critically evaluate the types of sailcloth fabrics. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the fabric materials used for sailcloth and to recommend an optimum material suitable for each purpose. According to the research into the sail making industry carried out by author through literature review, it was found that Nylon, Polyester, Pentex, Technora, Twaron, Kevlar, Spectra and Carbon Fiber are the most commonly used materials. Each of them has unique properties such as cost, modulus, breaking strength and resistance to UV. Therefore, sailcloth materials shall be evaluated based on a number of criteria such as efficiency loss, durability, cost, shape loss and ease of maintenance. In order to judge the efficiency losses of each material, ANSYS software had been used to simulate how each of the sailcloth material deforms under a range of 4 knots to 44 knots of wind speed. The forward forces of the sail before and after the sail deforms are compared, and efficiency loss graphs are plotted. If the sailcloth were to be judged based on just efficiency losses, Twaron or Kevlar would have been more than adequate because they are able to provide close to zero percent efficiency loss. In order to optimize the materials for each sailing purpose, evaluation had been done using “Design Concept Evaluation and Selection” method. The weightage values for the criteria were set based on how critical each criterion is to a sailing purpose. The evaluation revealed that Carbon Fiber is most suitable for high-end racing sail, and Polyester or Dacron is suitable for both cruising and amateur sailing.