Siemens Digital Industries Software reports that the Orient Express Racing Team is using the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industrial software to prepare for and gain a competitive advantage in the upcoming 37th America’s Cup.

The Orient Express Racing Team, founded by the sports technology company K-Challenge, brings together some of the best French athletes, engineers, technicians and experts with the aim of winning prestigious international sailing competitions, including the America’s Cup.

In collaboration with Siemens’ Simcenter Engineering Services, the Orient Express Racing Team is researching the real-world performance of the hydraulic flight and aeronautical systems that control the sails and the actuation of the rudder/foil flaps. According to Siemens, digital twins of these systems have been created, parameterized and functionally validated, along with dedicated libraries that help ensure the layout and interface are comprehensive and easy to use in a multidisciplinary team effort that includes the power, mechatronics and hydraulics groups.

“Sailboats have changed dramatically since the introduction of hydrofoil technology that allows them to fly above the water. Dealing with two fluids and all the new flight technologies in aerospace has become a real challenge as the rules of the game have completely changed,” says Stephan Kandler, CEO of K-Challenge and Orient Express Racing Team. “Digital twins and virtual testing have been a major breakthrough to improve the research and development of the boats beyond real sailing. Having Siemens by our side has been a key element of K-Challenge Racing & LAB’s strategy at the America’s Cup, but also in other developments in the field of decarbonizing maritime transport.”

“Siemens is incredibly proud to partner with K-Challenge and the Orient Express Racing Team and support them in their bid to succeed in the 37th America’s Cup race,” says Jean-Marie Saint-Paul, CEO of Siemens Digital Industries France and CEO of Siemens Digital Industries Software France. “The work we are doing now and during the upcoming race through our technical collaboration demonstrates how the benefits of digital twins of complex systems can leverage the use of real-time data in one of the most competitive sports environments.”

If the team finds that performance deviates from expectations, data from the water is used as a reference and engineers make changes to the system model (for example, to find suspected leaks in the hydraulic systems) to try to reconcile simulation results and data. This allows them to perform inspections and maintenance more precisely, Siemens reports.

As the team prepares for the race, there is also the opportunity to use the same digital twin-based system model, already prepared for real-time performance, to stream live data from the race to the models and compare response in real-time. Additionally, when the boat is not at sea, the system models are connected to K-Challenge’s virtual reality simulator. Finally, there is also the opportunity to work on the control strategy of the control systems and test several scenarios virtually before testing them in the water.

To learn more about how Siemens Digital Twin technology is helping K-Challenge and the Orient Express Racing Team prepare for the 37th America’s Cup, watch the video here.

Sources: Press materials received from the Company and additional information from the Company’s website.