DeeGee
Active member
They\'ll never arrive intact...
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I cut this...
<font color=blue> This potential weakness was exacerbated on the Route du Rhum, when boats were hove-to and leaning heavily on the leeward hulls, which were repeatedly being slammed into waves. What made it all the more catastrophic, says Irens, is that failure of this type of structure spreads very quickly. "It's a very localised sort of wave impact or slap that causes the damage. But because the material is very rigid, the rate of propagation of damage is very fast."
Since then, similar cracking has been found on the outside hull of the recent Van Peteghem/Lauriot Prévost-designed Belgacom, caused during the qualification sail for the Transat Jacques Vabre. This suggests that the damage seen during the Route du Rhum was not merely the result of a one-in-a-thousand combination of wind and sea conditions.
Future designs will benefit from taking a step back to more elastic materials, such as cores of linear Airex, but the options for remedying the problems of these trimarans were more limited. "Obviously you can't change the core so what you've got to do is decrease the panel size and make it even stronger. We also added a number of new frames," says Nigel Irens. All the Irens designs that share the same outside hulls have been modified, namely Sergio Tacchini, Bayer CropScience and Biscuits La Trinitaine </font color=blue>
As someone who has had a little to do with structural design, with dynamic loads having to be taken into account, or machines fall to bits - I am surprised that these eminent designers have taken so long to reach this point. They can only think in terms of the materials, rather than the structures. Why don't they put some form of simple to sophisticated shock absorbers into their structures? And stiffer structures are not the answer, look how an aircraft wing flexes beetween take-off and landed, and the plane doesn't have the wings drop off when the plane hits an air-pocket.
It would be interesting to hear what others think, esp if they have or are involved in structural design.
<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all
(Click on the link at the top of the page)
I cut this...
<font color=blue> This potential weakness was exacerbated on the Route du Rhum, when boats were hove-to and leaning heavily on the leeward hulls, which were repeatedly being slammed into waves. What made it all the more catastrophic, says Irens, is that failure of this type of structure spreads very quickly. "It's a very localised sort of wave impact or slap that causes the damage. But because the material is very rigid, the rate of propagation of damage is very fast."
Since then, similar cracking has been found on the outside hull of the recent Van Peteghem/Lauriot Prévost-designed Belgacom, caused during the qualification sail for the Transat Jacques Vabre. This suggests that the damage seen during the Route du Rhum was not merely the result of a one-in-a-thousand combination of wind and sea conditions.
Future designs will benefit from taking a step back to more elastic materials, such as cores of linear Airex, but the options for remedying the problems of these trimarans were more limited. "Obviously you can't change the core so what you've got to do is decrease the panel size and make it even stronger. We also added a number of new frames," says Nigel Irens. All the Irens designs that share the same outside hulls have been modified, namely Sergio Tacchini, Bayer CropScience and Biscuits La Trinitaine </font color=blue>
As someone who has had a little to do with structural design, with dynamic loads having to be taken into account, or machines fall to bits - I am surprised that these eminent designers have taken so long to reach this point. They can only think in terms of the materials, rather than the structures. Why don't they put some form of simple to sophisticated shock absorbers into their structures? And stiffer structures are not the answer, look how an aircraft wing flexes beetween take-off and landed, and the plane doesn't have the wings drop off when the plane hits an air-pocket.
It would be interesting to hear what others think, esp if they have or are involved in structural design.
<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all
