Numerical investigation of the hydrodynamics of changing fin positions within a 4-fin surfboard configuration

Falk S, Kniesburges S, Janka RM, O'Keefe T, Grosso R, Döllinger M (2020)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2020

Journal

Applied Sciences MDPI

Book Volume: 10

Article Number: 816

Journal Issue: 3

DOI: 10.3390/app10030816

Abstract

Most sports like surfing are highly developed. It is necessary to tease the last percentages out of the competitors and equipment-in the case of surfing the surfboard-fin-system-to win competitions or championships. In this computational investigation, a parameter study of the positioning of the two rear fins within a 4-fin configuration with fixed front fins on a surfboard is executed to find appropriate fin positions for specific surf situations. Four different inflow velocities are investigated. The RANS and URANS models combined with the SST k-ω turbulence model, which is available within the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package STAR-CCM+, are used to simulate the flow field around the fins for angles of attack (AoA) between 0° and 45°. The simulation results show that shifting the rear fins toward the longitudinal axis of the surfboard lowers the maximum lift. Surfboards with 4-fin configurations are slower in nearly the whole range of AoA due to a higher drag force but produce a higher lift force compared to the 3-fin configuration. The lift and drag forces increase significantly with increasing inflow velocity. This study shows a significant influence of the rear fin positioning and the inflow velocity on lift and drag performance characteristics.

Authors with CRIS profile

Sebastian Falk Stefan Kniesburges Rolf Matthias Janka Institute of Radiology Roberto Grosso Chair of Visual Computing (LGDV) Michael Döllinger Professur für Computational Medicine (DFG-Forschungsprofessur)

Involved external institutions

Daum Tooling, Inc. US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Falk, S., Kniesburges, S., Janka, R.M., O'Keefe, T., Grosso, R., & Döllinger, M. (2020). Numerical investigation of the hydrodynamics of changing fin positions within a 4-fin surfboard configuration. Applied Sciences, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/app10030816

MLA:

Falk, Sebastian, et al. "Numerical investigation of the hydrodynamics of changing fin positions within a 4-fin surfboard configuration." Applied Sciences 10.3 (2020).

BibTeX: Download