STEVENS SOLAR BOAT
Senior Design Project
Sprint/Slalom Design
The second most valuable race is the sprint race. For this race a planing hull is much more efficient. The faster the boat reaches planing speeds and levels out the faster top speeds can be achieved. The complication is that this hull form is very inefficient when run at slow speeds because of the stern shape. The third race is slalom which is a mix between going fast on straightaways and being able to turn effectively. In order to create a hull that fits all of these needs, the plan is to create a planing hull as the base and then create lightweight appendages that attach on to the stern that round out the hull shape in order to make it more efficient while operating at low speeds. To the right, a planing hull is shown
Endurance Design
The Solar Splash 17 Competition has a few limiting factors that will have to be followed when designing the hull. These include a maximum length overall 6m, beam of 2.4m including the solar arrays, and a maximum running freeboard of 1.5m. The competition consists of three separate races, all weighted differently. The first and most heavily weighted category is the endurance race in which consists of having to race around a set course for 2 hours straight and go for the most amount of laps in the time frame. There is both a qualifying round and competition round so the 2 hour endurance race will have to be repeated twice.
For this event the most ideal hull form would be a displacement or semi-displacement hull to accumulate the least amount of drag while maintaining a slower speed to ensure there is enough battery power to make it through the full 2 hours. To the right, displacement and semi-displacement hulls are shown