Numerical Comparison between a Modern Surfboard and an Alaia Board using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Luca Oggiano

2017

Abstract

Surfboard design is traditionally considered more as an art than an engineering process. However, in the past decade, the use of computers is becoming the standard in the shaping process. In the design part the use of computer-aid-design (CAD) software, has simplified the design process allowing shapers to save time and consistently modify or reproduce similar designs. At the same time, the improvement of computer-numerical-controlled (CNC) machines is slowly replacing the traditional hand shaping techniques with more controlled and reproducible manufacturing process. Another considerable advantage about having a 3D CAD model of the surfboard is that the model can be imported in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) programs and its performances can be studied and evaluated highlighting details that would be otherwise impossible to identify from a field test. The present paper aims to show the potential of CFD solvers for surfboard design and its applicability by comparing a modern surfboard with a traditional ancient surfboard design (alaia). The performances of the modern surfboard are evaluated and compared with the alaia board, represented by an equivalent flat plate which is also used for validation. The commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+ is used in the present work. An Unsteady Reynolds Navier Stokes (URANS) approach is used, the volume of fluid (VOF) method is chosen as free surface discretization method and the turbulence model chosen to allow the numerical closure of the RANS equations is the k-ɷ-SST proposed by Menter. The model validation on an alaia board, represented as a flat plate shows good agreement with previous studies and the comparison between the surfboard and the alaia addresses the superiority of the modern surfboard design in terms of stability.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Oggiano L. (2017). Numerical Comparison between a Modern Surfboard and an Alaia Board using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).In Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support - Volume 1: icSPORTS, ISBN 978-989-758-269-1, pages 75-82. DOI: 10.5220/0006488400750082

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icsports17,
author={Luca Oggiano},
title={Numerical Comparison between a Modern Surfboard and an Alaia Board using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support - Volume 1: icSPORTS,},
year={2017},
pages={75-82},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0006488400750082},
isbn={978-989-758-269-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support - Volume 1: icSPORTS,
TI - Numerical Comparison between a Modern Surfboard and an Alaia Board using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
SN - 978-989-758-269-1
AU - Oggiano L.
PY - 2017
SP - 75
EP - 82
DO - 10.5220/0006488400750082