Int. J. Numer. Anal. Mod., 4 (2007), pp. 548-558.


Speed windsurfing: modeling and numerics

Angela Kunoth 1, Maurice Schlichtenmayer 1, Christian Schneider 1

1 Institut für Angewandte Mathematik and Institut für Numerische Simulation, Universität Bonn, Wegelerstr. 6, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Received by the editors March 9, 2006, and, in revised form, March 23, 2006

Abstract

We consider the following problem: Given a finite number of sails of different sizes with prescribed shapes, given the speed of the wind, the weight of a surfer, the size and shape of a surfboard and a corresponding fin; determine the sail and the course such that the windsurfer achieves maximal speed. We develop a simple model for describing the movement of the windsurfer for maximizing the speed in terms of a nonlinear ODE (ordinary differential equation). We conclude with the presentation of corresponding numerical results, some remarks on their validation and more involved models.

AMS subject classifications: 70F99, 65L06
Key words: speed windsurfing; simple model; flow of air particles; nonlinear ODE; numerical simulation

Email: kunoth@iam.uni-bonn.de (A Kunoth), schlichtenmayer@iam.uni-bonn.de (M. Schlichtenmayer), schneider@iam.uni-bonn.de (C. Schneider)
 

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