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Benjamin Fyson-Smith

Hydrostatics and Fluid Dynamics of a Sailing-boat

The physics covered in this report applies to any buoyant object with a vertical surface for wind to
exert a force upon. In this case, I have chosen a typical sailboat.

For the most part of human history, sailboats have been used to transport and trade across
vast distances. Cultures such as the Vikings and Arabs have harnessed the power of the wind to
move large masses across the Northern and Asian seas, the British Empire would not have been
so large if it weren't for the ships that carried colonists across the globe. The earliest evidence for a
sailing vessel dates 7000 years back to the ancient Mesopotamians in modern day Kuwait. [1]
With about 70% of the earth’s surface being water it makes sense that we should have a way to
traverse it. For this to be possible a watercraft must be able to move forward whilst not sinking.

First we must assure that a boat can float. Archimedes’ principle states that the buoyant
force on an object in a liquid, that is the upward force that keeps a boat above water, is equal to
the weight of the liquid displaced by the object.
We know that W=mg,
where W = weight,
m = mass and
g = acceleration due to gravity.
Mass can be substituted for density x Volume so we can say the weight of the displaced liquid is
DVg. At points where the weight is greater than the buoyancy, the boat would sink until both forces
are balanced and at neutral buoyancy. Similarly if the buoyancy is greater than the weight an
object would float upwards until the forces reach equilibrium. On most ships, a mark called a
Plimsoll line indicates the safest maximum submersion of the ship.[3] Therefore we can assume
that the density (mass/volume) of a boat must be less than the density of water if we want to float
above water.

Wood is a good material to use for a hull as water has an average density of 1000
kilograms per cubic metre whereas even fairly dense wood like oak is about 80% of this. This
makes wood suitable for boats of all sizes but metal boats must have a fairly large size. If steel
was used (with a density of 7800 kilograms per cubic metre) you would need at least more than 8
times as much volume than mass for the overall density to be less than water so it can float. The
volume would need to be even larger if you want the boat to carry more than just itself, which
would undoubtably be the case. This is why it is very rare to see a steel or titanium rowing boat for
example.[4] Some watercraft such as submarines can change density by filling tanks with water or
air to submerge or surface, respectively. We know that water is much denser than air so this
makes sense that when there is a hole in a boat’s hull it fills with water the air is displaced, making
the boat sink as the volume stays constant but the mass and density of the boat increases.[5]

A very common wooden boat is the Mirror dinghy which can carry up to 5 people at the
same time. Assuming the average mass of a passenger is 70 kg this makes the overall mass of
boat and 5 passengers 395.5 kg (boat mass is 45.5 kg [9]). With the volume under the sheer line
(rim of hull) being 1.15 cubic metres [9], the overall density is 344 kg per cubic metre which is less
dense than water by a safe amount, allowing for the attachment of a motor engine or any luggage
without risking submergence. The average mass of a steel ship (including 5 passengers) is about
13 tonnes or 13000 kg. To achieve a reasonable density to float (about 430 kg per cubic metre) it
would need a volume of about 30 cubic metres.

Before the creation of the motor engine, boats needed propulsion from other sources,
whether that be from rowing oars or sails. For long distance travel it is easier to use sails than to
row. The main principle is that the wind blows a force onto a large area (the sail) attached to the
boat and this accelerates the boat forward. If a boat uses a square rig, where the sail is
perpendicular to the hull, then it can only go as fast as the windspeed pushing it along and in
roughly the same direction. This is because when the wind blows on the back side of the sails it
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creates a higher pressure which accelerates the boat forward. But the motion of the boat creates a
head wind and a higher air pressure which blows on the front of the sail which eventually matches
the true wind and the boat stops accelerating, reaching a constant speed.[2] So sailors using a
square rig can travel downwind easily but if they wanted to travel upwind they had to row which
meant a lot of effort for a lot of people on large ships.

This problem can be overcome by using a fore-and-aft rig, where the sails run along the
hull from bow (front) to stern (back) and can be rotated around the mast to catch the wind from
either side. This design allows sailors to use the wind more efficiently. Instead of using what wind
is given to us and letting it blow on to the sails, we can angle the
sails to our own preference and manipulate the wind to
accelerate the boat.

If a boat is in motion it experiences a head wind. It blows

in the opposite direction to the boat’s motion and is of equal
magnitude to the boat’s velocity. On a windless day, head wind is
the same velocity as the observer because there is no true wind
to affect it, so if the boat is at rest it experiences no head wind.
But if there is a naturally occurring (true) wind and the boat is figure 1
also in motion, it experiences a relative (apparent) wind. This can
be calculated with a vector sum of the true and head wind. (See
fig. 1) It’s this apparent wind that acts on the sail so we must
know its velocity and angle to adjust the sail accordingly.

When wind blows, the force it applies to the sail has two
components. The component parallel to the wind’s flow is called drag and the perpendicular
component is called lift. Unless the sail is at an angle to the wind there is no surface to deflect the
wind downwards and create lift.[7] Imagine you are sat in a moving car at a fairly high speed and
you stick your hand out the window to feel the breeze. Holding your palm facing the ground and
slowly rotating your hand upwards to make your palm face the car in front, you will feel the wind
push your hand up and backwards. The wind hits your hand and this redirects the flow downwards
and your hand reacts to the force by moving in the opposite direction. This is in accordance with
Newton’s third law of motion. Lift works on sails in the same way except the sail rotates on a
vertical axis where a hand rotates on a horizontal axis. Instead of wind being redirected
downwards it is now redirected south as we must think from a bird’s-eye point of view.

Lift requires either an asymmetrical, or “cambered”, shape (as seen in fig. 2) or an angle of
attack to deflect the wind. If the wind blows at the sail as in figure 2, then some of the wind will be
on the inside and deflected south, slowing down due to deflection. Another part of the wind will be
blowing over the outside. According to the Bernoulli principle, which states that when velocity is
highest the internal pressure is lowest, [2]
with a slower wind inside the sail the
pressure is higher than on the outside of
the sail thus creating the force labelled. We
don't want the sail to have too large an
angle of attack from the wind otherwise the
drag will be too large in comparison to the
lift. [8] This would mean less force in the
direction that the boat is headed as the
force provided by the wind to the sail is the
resultant of the vector sum of lift and drag.
If the wind were the only force acting on figure 2
the boat then it would still be moving upwind but would also be moving sideways
at a far higher rate.[6]
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Luckily, there are also forces applied to the keel
underneath the boat. The keel is a wing-like protrusion
underneath the hull which usually runs all the way along
the boat acting like the structure’s spine. Because it
carries a large portion of the boat’s mass, being solid all
the way through, the keel’s large surface area resists the
force from the wind trying to move the boat sideways
through the water. A more relatable example of this is
trying to move your flat hand through water palm first.
You will find that it requires more force than moving your
hand sideways in a chopping motion. This maintains the
boat on a direct path as the reaction force from the keel
cancels out the unwanted component of the wind’s force
leaving a resultant forward force. This can be seen in the
diagram below.

Because the apparent wind is used in

accelerating the boat forward by creating lift, the boat
therefore speeds up and this creates a larger head wind
which, in turn, makes the apparent wind change direction
to be more head on. As the sails on a fore-and-aft rig are adjustable we can change their angle to
face the “new” apparent wind and create more lift as in figure. 2 but with a smaller angle of attack.
The sail would have to be continually adjusted until there was resultant force acting on the boat
and it sails at a constant speed. A boat cannot sail directly upwind as there would be only a
backwards acting resultant force on the sails. So there is a limit to the angle of attack that once
surpassed the boat usually starts decelerating or turning away from the set course. This angle is
about 30 degrees from upwind for very efficient competitive sailing boats or 45 degrees for the
average leisure sailor. [8]

Knowing the requirements to make a material float and how wind can be manipulated for
maximum acceleration, we could easily design a simple version of a sailing boat that could carry a
significant load and travel in any direction. The fore-and-aft rig’s utility made its popularity increase
during the Renaissance for sailing rivers and estuaries in Europe but the square rig was still
popular with ocean travel [10] as the North sea and Atlantic ocean had unpredictable winds but
generally blew in the direction that sailors wanted to travel.

Sources
1: Carter, R. and Crawford, H.E.W (2010) Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic. Brill
-Discovered oldest known ship in Kuwait 5000BC

2: Lewin, W.H.G. (1999) Lecture 28: Hydrostatics - Fluid Dynamics, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, MIT
http://videolectures.net/mit801f99_lewin_lec28/
-Archimedes and Bernoulli principle, ideas of pressure difference creating lift/buoyancy

3: Hebraic, M.R. (2013) What Floats Your Boat?, Duke University

https://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php?url=collection/duk_/lessons/duk_float_mary_le
ss/duk_float_mary_less.xml
-Plimsoll line shows suggested submersion

4: Olsen, A. and Rowland, T. (2012) Scientific American, Buoyant Science: How Metal "Boats"
Float, Nature America, Inc.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-how-metal-boats-float/
-Explains how dense materials can still be used for hulls
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5: Brain, M. and Freudenrich, C. (2009) How Submarines Work, HowStuffWorks, Inc.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/submarine1.htm
-Change in pressure/density can change buoyancy level

6: Maciel, T. (2015) The Physics of Sailing: How Does a Sailboat Move Upwind?, American
Physical Society
http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2015/05/the-physics-of-sailing-how-does.html
-The forces on hull counteract unwanted force vectors of wind

7: Muller, D. (2012) How Does A Wing Actually Work?, Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFO4PBolwFg&list=PL4CdRJPBy6QG282cf4H03Ocbxn9emrd
_p&index=3
-Explanation of lift on an airfoil

8: Normani, F. (2009-2015) The Physics Of Sailing, Real World Physics Problems

http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/physics-of-sailing.html
-Vectors of wind and hull / fluid dynamics

9: Egan, M. (2013) Mirror dinghy Specification, UK Mirror Class Association

http://www.ukmirrorsailing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=57&Itemid=56
-Specifications of a Mirror dinghy

10: Chatterton, E.K. (1912) Fore and aft, J. B. Lippincott

-Usage of fore-and-aft rig