A study on the performance of cascade hard sails and sail-equipped vessels.

This study proposes a type of hard sail and investigates its potential use on commercial vessels for utilizing wind energy. We focus on the performance of cascade sails and consider the aerodynamic interaction between the sails. To obtain the lift and drag coefficients of the sails, wind tunnel testing and a two-dimensional simulation code based on the boundary element method with vortices are used. According to the change in distance and attack angle of each sail in the cascade, the best setup parameter is investigated, and the aerodynamic interaction is analyzed. From the viewpoint of the sailing performance of the vessel, our results demonstrate that cascade hard sails can significantly reduce fuel costs for commercial vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]