Digital Twin Virtual reality provides an advantage in the America’s Cup

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Focusing on the victory in the America’s Cup: The Orient Express Racing Team creates a digital twin with the help of Siemens Xcelerator software, which can simulate the hydro and aerodynamic systems of the sailboat in the water through virtual reality.

The Orient Express Racing Team founded by French sports technology company K-Challenge aims to win the most prestigious international sailing competitions, including the America's Cup. To achieve this goal, the company brings together some of the best French competitive sailors, engineers, technicians, and experts. Staying competitive in this extremely competitive environment is the driving force for the company's creativity and ability to innovate.

To prepare for the upcoming 37th America’s Cup and secure a competitive advantage, the Orient Express Racing Team is using the Siemens Xcelerator industry software portfolio from Siemens Digital Industries Software.

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In close collaboration with Siemens' Simcenter Engineering Services, the Orient Express Racing Team gains a better understanding of the actual performance of the hydro- and aerodynamic systems controlling the sails, rudders and foils. Digital twins of these systems have been created, parametrized and functionally validated along specialized data libraries in such a way that the layout and the interface are fully comprehensive and easy to use for the multidisciplinary teams consisting of specialists in performance, mechatronics and hydraulics.

Digital twins make an important contribution

"Sailing boats have dramatically changed since the introduction of the foiling technology that allows them to fly over the water. Handling two fluids and the multitude of new flight systems has become a real challenge, as this has completely changed the rules of the game," explains Stephan Kandler, CEO K-Challenge and Orient Express Racing Team. "Digital twins and virtual testing now contribute significantly to the research and development of the boats, along with actual sailing. Having Siemens by our side was a key component of K-Challenge Racing & LAB's strategy for the America's Cup, but also for other developments in the area of decarbonizing goods transport on the seas."

"Siemens is incredibly proud to partner with K-Challenge and the Orient Express Racing Team and support it 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 results achieved through our technical collaboration now and during the upcoming race demonstrate the benefits of digital twins of complex systems by using real-time data in one of the most competitive sports worlds."

Compare simulation results with real data

When the team finds that the performance deviates from expectations, the data obtained in the water are used as a reference and the engineers make changes in the system model (for example, to detect suspected leaks in the hydraulic systems) to align the simulation results with the data - this allows them to plan inspection and maintenance work more accurately and efficiently.

As the team prepares for the race, the same model of digital twin systems that is already prepared for real-time performance can be used to stream live data from the race to the models and compare the reactions in real time. When the boat is not at sea, the system models are also connected to K-Challenge's virtual reality simulator. Last but not least, they allow for refining the control strategy for the control systems and virtually running through different scenarios before testing in the water.