APPLICATIONS

Luna Rossa saves as much as 15 percent in weight on structural composite boat components using advanced Altair Engineering optimization tools: Altair Engineering today announced that the design team of the Luna Rossa Challenge 2007 has used HyperWorks to optimize all composite components on the sailing boat. The Luna Rossa Challenge will run in this year's America's Cup that starts in Valencia, Spain, in April 2007. The international sailing competition determines the fastest America's Cup Class (ACC) sailboat and crew in the world. Using Altair's advanced optimization technology in developing the boat's design resulted in as much as a 15 percent reduction in overall weight, a critical factor in boat racing success. "Altair CAE products allowed us to significantly reduce the overall weight of all the boat's structural components made of composite material," said Andrea Avaldi, Luna Rossa Challenge Design Team. "With some of the components, we reached a weight reduction of more than 15 percent compared to the originally designed components while still maintaining all our objectives for stiffness and strength." "Advanced optimization technology can play a vital role in developing robust boat designs in less time, especially when weight is an important factor in overall product success. We are very happy that the design team of Luna Rossa Challenge 2007 has used our software to drive the development of the new sailboat," said Cosimo Panetta, managing director, Altair Engineering Srl. "Challenges such as building a world-class racing sailboat such as this call for cutting-edge technology in every development phase. With HyperWorks, the Luna Rossa engineers have chosen such a technology to optimize the composite components, and the weight savings they achieved speaks for itself."