The America's Cup is a global performance that showcases the pinnacle of naval engineering, strategic insight, and sporting excellence. Now in its 37th edition dating back to 1851, the competition has captivated millions of spectators worldwide as the teams converge in Barcelona, Spain. Among the elite syndicates vying for victory was the Italian challenger Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Throughout the competition, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s success hinged not only on experience but also on the use of cutting-edge technologies that push the boundaries of design and performance.

The Challenge: Innovating Under Pressure

In the demanding arena of the America's Cup, the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team faced a formidable challenge: the need to innovate swiftly within stringent constraints. The race is governed by a complex set of design rules, including specific requirements for the AC75 foiling monohull boats. Additionally, teams must operate under relentless time pressure. Despite their experience from previous campaigns, each new edition of the Cup introduces novel design challenges that require fresh approaches and advanced technological solutions.

The AC75 boats are at the forefront of nautical innovation, designed to glide above the water on hydrofoils at speeds of up to 60 mph. However, these marvels of modern design also present significant engineering challenges. The need to optimize the boat's aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and structural integrity requires intensive simulation and testing. With limited time, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli needed a solution that could accelerate its development cycles and ensure design accuracy and reliability.

The Solution: Altair HPC – A Game-Changer in Boat Design

To meet these daunting challenges, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli turned to longtime partner Altair for its market-leading simulation and high-performance computing (HPC) technologies. Leveraging the powerful Altair® HPCWorks® HPC and cloud platform, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli revolutionized their design process, enabling them to conduct rapid, high-fidelity simulations that optimized boat performance under tight deadlines.

Altair HPCWorks simplifies resource and workflow management to accelerate innovation. For Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, this meant efficiently orchestrating, visualizing, optimizing, and analyzing their most demanding workloads. The platform’s ability to handle complex, large-scale nonlinear simulations provided Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with a virtual environment where they could replicate real-world physical tests, allowing for quicker iterations and more informed design decisions.

One of the most significant advantages of Altair HPCWorks was its ability to run multiple simulations at the same time. This parallelization not only sped up the overall design process but also allowed the team to more quickly explore a broader range of design variants. Each design candidate was assigned a “virtual identity card,” enabling a thorough evaluation of its performance based on simulated scenarios. This process ensured that only the most promising designs moved forward in development, thus saving time and resources.

Moreover, Altair HPCWorks facilitated the creation of reduced-order models (ROMs) that were integrated into the boat’s global simulator. This holistic approach provided Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli with a comprehensive view of the boat’s structural performance, from the detailed analysis of specific components to the broader impact on speed and stability. The Altair® Access™ desktop application further streamlined the process by automating the submission of large volumes of calculations and integrating results with customized post-processing routines. This automation reduced the manual workload, allowing engineers to focus on refining designs rather than managing simulations.

The Results: Faster, Smarter, and More Collaborative Development

The implementation of Altair’s HPC solutions had a transformative impact on Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s development process, yielding several benefits.

Reduced Development Time

The ability to split large computational tasks into smaller, parallel jobs significantly accelerated simulation times and efficiency, enabling Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to conduct more virtual tests within the tight timeframe. As a result, they expedited the optimization of their boat’s structural design, ensuring they were race-ready well before the competition.

Enhanced Performance

With the means to perform complex simulations faster than ever, the team was able to explore a greater number of design variations. This comprehensive exploration led to the identification of the most effective design features – ultimately improving performance. This advantage was crucial in preparing for the America's Cup, where even the smallest performance gains can make the difference between victory and defeat.

Optimized Collaboration

By streamlining workflows and making data more accessible across departments, the integration of Altair’s tools enhanced communication and collaboration among the team’s designers and engineers. 

HPC for a Better, Faster America’s Cup

The partnership between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Altair highlights the transformative potential of HPC technology in high-stakes, competitive environments like the America's Cup. By leveraging Altair HPCWorks, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli improved their boat design process and put in a strong performance against top competitors the world’s oldest sailing competition. 

“Thanks to the collaboration with Altair and the use of their HPC technology we have successfully transformed our design process. Simulations and optimization have allowed us to reduce development times and improve efficiency, presenting ourselves as stronger and more prepared for the America’s Cup,” said Andrea Canciani, structural engineer, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

The collaboration between Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and Altair played a valuable role in Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli’s quest for America's Cup glory. The application of HPC technology helped speed up the development process ensured the team’s designs are at the cutting edge of nautical innovation. 

To learn more about the Altair HPCWorks platform, visit https://altair.com/altair-hpcworks. To learn more about Altair’s HPC and cloud capabilities, visit https://altair.com/hpc-cloud-applications.