Towards a general design evaluation tool: The development and validation of a VPP for autonomous sailing monohulls

Sailing speed is a critical performance measure governing the trafficability, coverage efficiency, and target-tracking capability of autonomous sailing monohulls. It is strongly coupled to wind direction and wind speed, and cannot be adequately represented by a single average speed or by the characteristics of an individual subsystem. Hull and keel geometries are commonly task-oriented and unconventional; classical velocity prediction programs (VPPs) based on empirical formulae and gradient-type solvers are therefore prone to error and often depend on prior performance estimates.

This paper proposes a generalised VPP for autonomous sailing monohulls. The hydrodynamic modelling is compatible with computational fluid dynamics (CFD); an enhanced genetic algorithm incorporating end-place optimisation retains favourable global convergence in the absence of prior estimates; and a neighbourhood information-based optimisation (NIBO) strategy exploits continuity across neighbouring true-wind states, thereby avoiding independent solutions for each state, accelerating computation, and reducing prediction fluctuations. Prototype application, together with numerical and sea-trial results, indicates that the tool is particularly suitable for quantitative comparison of unconventional hull–sail–keel configurations at the conceptual design stage, and provides an evaluation basis for subsequent optimisation and mission planning.