Autonomous sailboat design: A review from the performance perspective
Published in Ocean Engineering, 2021
This paper provides a thorough review of autonomous sailboat design, specifically focusing on four key performance aspects crucial for marine science missions: structural durability, energy self-sufficiency, overturning resistance, and sailing speed. It summarizes existing design approaches, highlights the logic behind them, and statistically identifies factors hindering further performance improvement, primarily stemming from insufficient consideration of task scenarios, inherent trade-offs between sailing speed and overturning resistance, and a lack of comprehensive design optimization frameworks. To address these challenges, the authors propose potential future solutions, including scenario-customized designs, adaptive mechanisms for varying conditions (like reefable sails, adjustable variant sails, and stabilizers), and the adoption of simulation-based design optimization techniques. The goal is to inspire designers to create more robust and capable autonomous sailboats, facilitating advancements in marine science research such as ecosystems, biogeochemistry, and meteorology studies.
Recommended citation: Yang An, Jiancheng Yu*, and Jin Zhang. (2021). "Autonomous sailboat design: A review from the performance perspective." Ocean Engineering. 237, 109753.
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