Conception, fabrication et validation structurale des coques d'un catamaran de type Class-C

Abstract

Hydrofoils are currently integrated to every type of boats. The hydrofoils introduce substantial performance gains but significantly change load cases and forces repartition on the boat. The regatta strategies are evolving and the impact of boat weight during regattas is even higher with hydrofoils. This master thesis presents the structural design, manufacturing and validation of C-Class catamaran hulls. The principal design objective is to achieve a total hull weight of 40 kg while maximizing platform stiffness. First, the structure’s geometry and the load cases were determined. Then, preliminary tests were performed, including the manufacturing of a composite plate, microscopic observation and three point bending tests. A finite element model was validated by comparison to a FEM linear static analysis results against the three point bending test results and an analytical solution. The hull’s laminate was then pre sized with the analysis of a preliminary FEM model of the catamaran with the rigging preloading. Finally, a detailed FEM model validated the hull’s laminate with respect to failure, buckling and deformations criteria with static balance and pitchpoling navigation load cases. The hulls were manufactured with the carbon/ epoxy prepreg laminates previously determined and with manufacturing processes determined during the preliminary test. Half hulls assemblies and internal structure bonding joints were designed using FEM results. After the manufacturing completion, the hulls were instrumented with strain gages and a data was acquired during the preloading tests. Data acquisition results showed a relative gap of 25% with FEM results. The FEM model was validated considering bonding joints modelling and data acquisition setup. Manufactured hulls mass was 43 kg. The relative gap between the mass objective and the mass of manufactured hulls was 7.5%. Thus the mass objective was achieved. Finally, the performances of the manufactured catamaran were observed during first navigations.

Date	24 Sept 2018
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Simon Joncas (Supervisor)