Yachting & Marine
We help shipyards and design studios cut hull resistance, remove noise and vibration, and build smart-boat architectures for high-performance vessels.
The challenges of modern yachting
Shipyards and design studios now work on three fronts that affect one another: energy consumption, development time and comfort on board. Cubit addresses them with numerical simulation, onboard telemetry and thermo-fluid analysis of interiors, using a method built over more than ten years of projects on sailing and motor vessels, from foiling racing boats to hybrid and electric propulsion.
01
Energy transition and consumption
Hybrid and electric propulsion make low hull resistance and precise energy management on board a requirement. The range of an electric vessel depends on the hull, the appendages and the efficiency of the battery packs more than on installed power.
02
The limits of physical testing
Towing-tank tests are expensive, take months to schedule and freeze the geometry before the design is mature. CFD simulation compares dozens of hull and appendage variants before the model is built, and keeps the tank for final validation.
03
Uncompromised comfort
In the owner’s saloons of a superyacht, vibration, noise and draughts from the air conditioning are not acceptable. Comfort is designed upstream, by analysing the sources of noise and vibration and simulating how air is distributed in each space.
Cubit’s engineering solutions
Three capabilities that Cubit combines in a single development path, from concept to refit. Every engagement starts with a technical feasibility review that defines the data required, the method and the expected results.
Hydrodynamic and aerodynamic simulation (marine CFD)
- Hull resistance and running trim, with free surface and six degrees of freedom.
- Optimisation of appendages, bulbs, rudders and lifting surfaces (foils), including cavitating regimes.
- Seakeeping analysis: vessel behaviour in a seaway, loads and accelerations.
- Superstructure aerodynamics and exhaust plume dispersion.
- Numerical–experimental correlation and multi-objective numerical optimisation.
In-house HPC cluster; Siemens Star-CCM+, Ansys Fluent, OpenFOAM, modeFRONTIER. CFD Consulting
Onboard IoT and telemetry systems (smart boat)
- Custom electronic boards for onboard data acquisition, from PCB to firmware, with support for CE and FCC certification.
- Real-time monitoring of battery packs, engines and onboard systems, over wireless and wired links and standard protocols (MQTT, HTTP).
- Dedicated cloud platforms (FIWARE, AWS IoT, Azure IoT) for predictive maintenance, with condition-based algorithms and vibration analysis running directly on the device.
Field experience with Yachting Installation 4.0: an IoT architecture for the integrated management of onboard systems and their life cycle. IoT Division
Acoustic comfort and interior climate (NVH and HVAC)
- Thermo-fluid analysis for even air-conditioning distribution in saloons and cabins, without draughts.
- Aeroacoustics and vibration analysis: source identification and verification of countermeasures with fluid–structure coupling (CFD and FEM).
- Simulation of exhaust plume dispersion, to keep fumes out of the cockpit and the aft deck areas.
- Digital twin of the HVAC system for smart control based on how the spaces are occupied.
A method developed on industrial plants and car cabins, applicable to onboard interiors. HVAC and indoor air quality
Yacht refit: onboard electronics and systems integration
In a yacht refit, onboard systems come from different generations and suppliers. Bringing them together on a single platform, with qualified and documented installations, is a job of system architecture and component integration. With Yachting Installation 4.0, Cubit and a group of partners built an IoT (Internet of Things) architecture designed for the marine sector: an integrated platform that manages the vessel’s onboard components and tracks their maintenance with predictive techniques, backed by procedures for product certification and for qualifying the installation process. The same skills apply to refit projects, from system architecture to qualification procedures.
For shipyards and refitters, the entry point is an integration assessment of the existing systems.
Marinas and yacht harbours
Hulls, moorings and seabeds are hard to inspect frequently, traceably and in a way that can be compared over time. MUSAI, a computer-vision platform created under the ARTES 4.0 RI&SS call and funded by the Next Generation EU programme, analyses in real time the images collected by an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle). On hulls it recognises fouling, structural anomalies and the condition of appendages and anodes; on the seabed it reports the state of moorings, debris, depth variations and submerged structures, with georeferenced and documented surveys.
Details, demo and dedicated contacts are on the MUSAI website for marinas (in Italian).
Measured results
Case study: the foil for the sailing speed world record
For a French lab aiming at the sailing speed world record at 80 knots, Cubit and the University of Pisa designed the foil for the supercavitating regime. The CFD campaign explored more than 200 profiles and 20 foils. A multidisciplinary numerical optimisation, with structural and manufacturability constraints, cut drag by 25% against the reference configuration obtained with conventional design methods. The results were validated by an experimental campaign in the IRENAV cavitation tunnel in Brest.
Other public references: the full fluid-dynamic characterisation of an AC75 (internal research study), the partnership with the Foiling Organization and the postgraduate Master in Yacht Design at the University of Pisa, directed by the technical director of Cubit’s Fluid Dynamics Division. Marine Applications
Further reading
Projects, publications and news from Cubit’s work in the marine sector.
- World Sailing Speed Record: fluid-dynamic design of a supercavitating foil (project).
- AC75: full fluid-dynamic characterisation of an America’s Cup class vessel (internal research).
- Yachting Installation 4.0: an IoT platform for onboard systems (funded project).
- CFD Applications in the Marine Field (publication).
- University of Pisa and Cubit join a sailing speed record programme for research on cavitation (news).
- Webinar on the AC75 and foiling technology (event).
Frequently asked questions
The hull and appendage geometry in CAD format (STEP, IGES or equivalent), weights and the position of the centre of gravity, the operating conditions to analyse (speed, displacement, sea state) and, if available, data from earlier tank tests or sea trials to use as a reference. Without CAD, the geometry can be rebuilt from construction drawings or a survey.
Yes. Numerical–experimental correlation is part of the method: simulations are compared with wind-tunnel, towing-tank or cavitation-tunnel tests, as with the record foil validated in the IRENAV cavitation tunnel in Brest, and the methods are documented in scientific publications with the University of Pisa.
It depends on the number of variants and conditions to analyse. The in-house HPC cluster lets us plan the campaign without queuing on external resources. A time estimate is given in the technical feasibility review, together with the simulation plan.
Yes. Acquisition devices are designed to integrate with the systems already on board, with sensors and protocols chosen for the vessel, and the data flows into a dedicated cloud platform. The Yachting Installation 4.0 project covered both the installation and the maintenance phase.
A new project at concept stage, or a refit?
Tell us about the vessel and the goal: lower consumption, new appendages, onboard telemetry or interior comfort. An engineer from the Fluid Dynamics or the IoT Division will reply with an initial assessment of feasibility and of the data required.
