Marine Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR)

BAR design team uses NX and Teamcenter to develop an innovative racing boat to bring the America’s Cup back to Britain

Products NX, Teamcenter, Femap

Business challenges Design a racing catamaran that is reliable, fast and safe Provide full traceability in order to comply with competition rules Enable quick and easy design scalability

Keys to success Automatic scripting to generate multiple geometries Full simulation capabilities Siemens PLM Software solutions Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), a collection of enable Ben Ainslie Racing to experienced sailors, designers and techni- cians who aim to bring home the America’s Results quickly analyze multiple Cup trophy to the United Kingdom (UK) for Sailors and shore crew can geometric options and reliably the first time since 1851, when the trophy readily access design data find the balance between speed left the Isle of Wight. from tablet or phone and stability Geometry for 1000 different They are led by Olympic medalist, Sir Ben hulls produced overnight There is no second place Ainslie, who was on the US team that won the 34th America’s Cup. He describes the FEA loops reduced to Wind and water confront sailing prowess complexity of the task: “It’s a sporting chal- 20 seconds each and design skill to make the America’s Cup the ultimate in thrilling and unpredictable lenge, it’s a technical challenge and it’s Full compliance with rules sporting events. In the 35th event, Oracle about bringing a large group of people and regulations Team USA will defend the title against one together designing, building and then rac- Ability to audit last-minute challenger on a circuit off Bermuda where ing the fastest boat possible.” part changes during the team will race in AC62 catamarans. competition In the middle of 2014, the BAR team began Presently five teams have set their sights on a two-and-a-half year timetable to design, being that challenger and one of these is evaluate and verify a 62-foot wing foiled

www.siemens.com/plm “We’ve been very impressed with the support we’ve had from Siemens PLM Software because we’re pushing the limits of the NX system.” Andy Claughton Technical Director BAR

catamaran. Crucially, teams are not allowed A race against time to launch their AC62 catamarans until 150 An understanding of computational fluid days before the first event of the 2017 dynamics (CFD) is critical to the design America’s Cup Qualifiers. The bulk of design, process. In order to achieve the best hull analysis and performance testing must be design, the team needs to generate and completed on much smaller scale test mod- assess numerous shapes quickly and consis- els and on AC45 class catamarans, which tently. “The ability within the NX system to are used for preliminary races during 2015 use scripts and produce hundreds of CFD and 2016. geometries at the press of a button is immensely powerful,” says Claughton. Each team must therefore have complete “Processing geometry used to take hours, confidence in the boat when it is launched now it takes about 20 seconds; this is a in January 2017. “The America’s Cup is a good example of the strength of NX.” competition where you cannot afford to have an unreliable boat,” observes Andy Simon Schofield, a designer at BAR, points Claughton, technical director at BAR. “We out, “The one thing we cannot buy is time, have to win five out of nine races; a and NX enables us to make the best use of mechanical failure would be a disaster.” available time. The scripting capabilities of NX allow us to automate geometry creation For Ben Ainslie Racing, the only choice was giving us the ability overnight to produce NX™ software and Teamcenter® software, thousands of geometrical variations, which an integrated virtual environment for digital can then be utilized as part of the optimiza- modeling and simulation. Both NX and tion process. We would never use some of Teamcenter are from Siemens PLM Software these shapes, but by exploring all possibili- and offer comprehensive capabilities for ties, we know we are not missing anything, managing the product lifecycle. Software and we can focus design time on the best implementation, training and support ser- options.” vices are being provided by Siemens PLM Platinum Partner Majenta PLM. “The ability within the NX system to use scripts and produce hundreds of CFD geometries at the press of a button is immensely powerful.”

Andy Claughton Technical Director BAR NX facilitates interaction between the sail- Analyzing the dynamic balance ing and engineering teams. Experience in between stability and speed the first test boat allows sailors to think “We could give the sailing team a solution about where they want items such as con- that might be blindingly fast but impossible trols and foot chocks in the second test to sail,” comments Claughton. “Our job is to boat, due to be launched in the middle of build the sailors a fast boat in which they 2015. The design team can respond to these have confidence. If they don’t have confi- requests in 3D immediately. dence, they won’t be able to go for a maneuver that could win the race.” Claughton notes that NX is an essential tool: “We can achieve exactly what we want with Designers need to analyze every part NX; for example, if you are going to use a upfront in order to maximize both perfor- CAD (computer-aided design) file for mance and reliability. Schofield explains machining, surfaces have to be accurate the critical role of NX: “The embedded FEA and NX is reliable. We know that when a solvers allow us to integrate our stress anal- surface looks right it is right. The software is ysis, through the combination of FEA capa- also intuitive and user friendly. I can model bilities and scripting abilities. We can something using NX, put it down and six automate analysis loops combining finite weeks later pick it up again with ease.” element analysis, pre-loading condition and geometry iterations, and this really speeds Schofield adds: “Being able to capture our up the whole analysis process. Within a min- thoughts in a parametric 3D environment is ute we can, for example, iterate load cases very useful, particularly when designers to find a balanced solution, with no need for want to quickly describe a conceptual shape any manual setup or adjustment. When we as a space claim and revisit it later in the need specialist pre-and postprocessing design process. We can then change and capability, we can easily turn to Femap for optimize the initial concept to the final additional functionality.” geometry with minimal re-work, which we do quite frequently. We can also work with Results are delivered via a spreadsheet, with other specialist applications such as sail links to Teamcenter. Claughton adds: “The design software and use IGES files to bring ability to generate huge volumes of data accurate data into NX with ease. In addition, and conduct structural simulation before the ability to make late design changes to a the design or dimensions are confirmed is component and see all the amendments really condensing time frames.” filter through the assembly is going to be extremely useful in the future, when we Putting together finite element analysis have to scale up designs. (FEA) results with data captured from sen- sors located on the test boat gives designers a complete picture and the confidence to make decisions, balancing safety factors with performance potential. According to Schofield, this provides clear options for design profile – a fully serialized boat with “NX is the number-one choice spending the available weight budget and all components linked to a service schedule for us; as the primary design distributing it optimally across the boat. that shows how long they have been in use and engineering tool for the and how well they have performed. team, we are 100 percent Complying with strict regulations confident in it.” This will provide additional agility during the The rules of the America’s Cup are compre- Simon Schofield competitive stages. If any rudders or boards hensive and exacting. For example, BAR has Designer are replaced the night before a race, the to provide the history of every part, submit- BAR ting documents to the Rules Committee to team will be able to submit all the relevant show materials used, identify material details to the Rules Committee. batches and describe manufacturing processes. Traditionally, this was all done The long-term aim is to have Teamcenter manually and involved huge amounts of available on laptops, tablets and phones so paperwork. that shore support and shop floor staff can enter queries and data as they track test Teamcenter now provides a digital solution, performance or manufacture a part. The assisting BAR not only in meeting all the intention is to readily keep track of the sail- rules of the competition but also in demon- ing configuration and know which parts strating compliance through an audit have been taken out, making maintenance trail that verifies every aspect of design. easier for the shore crew. Claughton notes, “It’s really important that, when you go out to race, you’ve got a boat Dr. Susie Tomson, BAR’s sustainability man- that’s in class. If you win but can’t produce ager, explains that the NX and Teamcenter certificates of compliance for the compo- solutions are also helping the team meet its nents, you could forfeit the race.” environmental goals. “The Siemens PLM Software solution allows us to work with BAR is using Teamcenter to achieve control our suppliers and boat builders and reduce of the whole development process, from waste by making the development process CAD through simulation and issue of draw- as efficient as possible. By understanding ings, to manufacture and installation. The exactly what has gone into the boat, we can aim is to build a complete and up-to-date also work out what to do with all the com- ponents at the end, re-using and recycling in order to drive down the carbon footprint of the boat. That is one of our key objectives.” Solutions/Services NX www.siemens.com/nx Teamcenter www.siemens.com/teamcenter Femap www.siemens.com/plm/femap

Customer’s primary business Tools that can be trusted “To win the America’s Cup with a British BAR is a commercial sporting “NX is the number-one choice for us; as the team, to bring the America’s Cup home for team led by Olympic gold primary design and engineering tool for the the first time in its history would be the medalist and 34th America’s team, we are 100 percent confident in it,” most amazing experience and for sure a Cup winner, Sir Ben Ainslie. says Schofield. “We’ve been very impressed career highlight,” concludes Ainslie. “The Launched in June 2014, with the support we’ve had from Siemens Siemens PLM Software systems really enable the team’s long-term aim PLM Software because we’re pushing the us to collate our ideas and make sure they is to bring the prestigious limits of the NX system,” Claughton adds. are put into practice. That’s why we wanted America’s Cup back to to partner with Siemens PLM Software, and Britain, where the first we’ve been extremely impressed with the challenge was held in 1851 progress we’ve made so far.” off the Isle of Wight. www.benainslieracing.com “The Siemens PLM Software Customer location Portsmouth systems really enable us to collate England our ideas and make sure they are Partner Majenta PLM Limited put into practice. That’s why we wanted to partner with Siemens PLM Software, and we’ve been extremely impressed with the progress we’ve made so far.”

Sir Ben Ainslie Team Principal BAR

Siemens PLM Software

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