We describe some advances in Performance Prediction Programs - "PPP"1 for sailing yachts2 - primarily integrating PPP analysis into drawing and providing new sculpting operations in which fairness and desired hydrostatic and on her performance determining characteristics are maintained - the shape remains a boat or a ship of the desired kind during reshaping.
Our building blocks for such an integration are: a thousand-fold increase in PPP speed3, new editing tools which maintain Boatness4 , and an accessible modularization of the engineering physics of the PPP within a new programming environment which allows immediate changes by designers.
Specifically, these new functions are introduced at the boundary of Drawing and the PPP:
- A live knotmeter is displayed with each design variant on the drawing boar, - alongside it's antagonist - Rating.
- Continuously updated hydrotatics (including the speed determining factors LSM, wetted surface, stability, prismatics, .. ) are displayed with the knotometer, with the 'positive' factors (like length) graphically opposing the 'negative' (like wetted surface.) Dimensions for PPP use are calculated automatically from the shape at hand - in particular: appendage dimensions, hydrostatics, and so forth.
- Bounding limits are set for a design optimization by drawing two or more outlier yacht forms. The space in between can be explored by hand or automatically.
- Local optimums of Speed against rating are provided as a 'Snap' function. This is the one dimensional version of automatic exploration for optima.
- Intermediate shapes are also controlled during design optimization to maintain realism and performance constraints on type, fairness, 'look', speed producing shape measures like prismatic and displacement etc., and even handicap.
- Immediate feedback is available if one chooses to exploit the new programming environment to make aero hydro model changes or extensions to the internal PPP mechanisms while drawing and exploring.
