Leveraging a digital twin and computational fluid dynamics software to reduce hydrofoil design time by 25 percent

Transforming digital into reality

For years, foiling has been associated with sailing and, more recently, kitesurfing or windsurfing. To go further, SEAir Solutions is making this experience readily available to recreational and professional motorboat enthusiasts. SEAir Solutions was founded in 2016 and is located in Lorient, France, a seaside town along the rugged coastline of southern Brittany, a popular area for sailors and marine industry insiders. This puts SEAir Solutions in the middle of the French nautical scene; however, Richard Forest, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of SEAir Solutions, believes the company is about more than just hydrofoils.

“A hydrofoil is a very old concept,” says Forest. “The main idea of a hydrofoil is to lift the boat and reduce the drag so it flies over the water. Foils are well known for sailing boats. However, I had the feeling that for motorboats they could be the answer to several problems, such as passenger comfort, improved speed and fuel savings.”

By combining the concept of hydrofoils and motorboats, the company developed its first boat, the SEAir Solutions Flying Tender 80. This is an 8-meter rigid-hulled inflatable boat with retractable hydrofoils and an electric stabilization system with a take off speed of 16 knots (about 30 kilometers per hour). Since it flies most of the time, this minimizes the jolts from the waves and increases the speed by 20 to 30 percent compared to traditional rigid inflatable. Additionally, it runs on a lot less fuel.

Various versions of the SEAir Solutions Flying Tenders are used around the world, transporting people on their work-related commutes or on pleasure cruises. Due to their compact size, they are also found on super yachts, which is useful for fishing and entertainment.

To continue innovating their designs, SEAir Solutions uses Simcenter™ software and NX™ software, which are part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

EFLYCO project for French Special Forces.

Valuing simulation for marine engineering

SEAir Solutions takes marine engineering and innovation seriously by constantly working on new designs and concepts. In addition to recreational markets, the company has taken its design and naval architecture excellence and applied it to more utilitarian vessels. This includes a 20-meter stealth flyer for the European Defense Agency (EDA) and a foiling catamaran crew transfer vessel (CTV) aimed at the offshore wind power industry.

“Our business model is very focused on engineering,” explains Forest. “This includes the hydrodynamic and structural design, the definition of systems, being for retractability of flight-control, and durability and quality.”

For this, the team at SEAir Solutions knew that using simulation would be a game-changer. Thanks to computing power and simulation capability advancements, the digital twin is used in traditional naval architecture. This includes interlinked design, component development, systems simulation and sizing for a full integration into vessels.

“The innovation is not the foil itself but leveraging simulation tools,” explains Forest. “For example, with SEAir Solutions’ process, we simulate the boats on the computer, then we take a physical prototype to the sea and it works the first time.”

Despite how easy Forest makes it sound, he credits Siemens Xcelerator solutions and Siemens Digital Industries Software partners JANUS Engineering and SIGMEO.

A catalyst for change

Several years ago, SEAir Solutions developed a flying boat prototype for the French Ministry of Defense and the French Special Forces. The company expanded their design to a 20-meter flying boat, which the EDA accepted as a viable project.

“When the project was selected by Europe, we had a good problem,” says Forest.

Despite the benefits of an EDA-approved project, it also created new challenges. The SEAir Solutions team had to adapt its processes for a more international mindset capable of working with other countries. Additionally, Forest realized they needed a better simulation software solution. As a startup, they had a vast mix of engineering tools, like modest home-made tools and custom-made spreadsheets.

“It was very important for us to have a more professional product,” says Forest. “We’d make some modifications in one tool, and then we’d transfer it to another tool, and it didn’t work. It was the wrong solution. And we would have to start again. We needed to spend less time on futile activities and focus on our business. We can be more focused on our business if we have efficient software design tools.”

Using NX for next-level collaboration

One of the first tools SEAir Solutions adopted from the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio was NX, a popular computer-aided design (CAD) solution for many naval architects. With over 20 years of experience focusing on hull design and system integration, Nicolas Philippe, naval architect research and design (R&D) at SEAir Solutions, was one of the members to see the immediate advantages.

“As we worked with European partners on the 20-meter boat, we had to exchange a lot of information with them,” says Philippe. “NX is convenient and important for us because we can integrate all the system information in the digital twin, meaning we can speed up the process of designing a vessel.”

Handling hydrodynamics with Simcenter

Hull design and system integration are vital elements of any marine project, as is how the product interacts with water and wind, which is important to overall design performance and its success on the water. This is the case when it comes to foils and motorboats, which SEAir Solutions takes into consideration from the first days of concept design.

“A foil is basically like an airplane,” says Amaury Grisard, naval architect at SEAir Solutions. “There is a lot of interaction with the water as well as the air. The boat has to have the right balance all the time, on calm seas, on waves and during extreme weather. You have to be really precise with your foil design and all the system controls.”

Grisard designs five or six foiling boats a year and knows first-hand the pain points of the process. First, he quickly sketches an idea, moves it to NX and then tests his design idea for feasibility in Simcenter STAR-CCM+™ software, a multiphysics computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution.

“The Simcenter STAR-CCM+ process is really easy,” says Grisard. “It’s like a tree. You just select the correct branch of the tree and follow it. At the end, you’ll have all your setup done and it’s fast.”

After that first test in Simcenter to see whether the new foil design performs well, the Simcenter and NX teams easily collaborate, seamlessly adjusting the overall system design and performance of each simulated component.

“Typically, we’ll test the hull and the foils in Simcenter and examine the interaction between both,” explains Grisard. “With these results, you can easily see where the problems are and where you need to change your design in NX. From there, it is really simple; you just import it and it works.”

To achieve these streamlined processes, Grisard points out that it takes more than just the software. When it comes to foil design, it is the entire Siemens Xcelerator ecosystem that results in advanced engineering success.

“We tested four different hull options on the last boat we built,” says Grisard. “We go into the design quite deeply and definitely advanced our foil design thanks to the Siemens Xcelerator tools. But what was also important was the training we received from the Siemens partners and the online Siemens Xcelerator Academy and forums.”

“Before, we spent a lot of time with all the different tools and phases,” says Forest. “We don’t experience this with the Siemens tools because it’s a fully linear application. I think we save at least 20 to 25 percent of design time using this fully integrated software.”

Benefiting from local Siemens partners

Forest agrees with Grisard and credits the local Siemens partners for their expertise and assistance.

“We work a lot with two Siemens partners, JANUS Engineering and SIGMEO,” says Forest. “Siemens has amazing software, but there are so many possibilities that I think we know only 40 percent of the software’s capacity.”

JANUS Engineering specializes in cutting-edge digital manufacturing NX applications from CAD to computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). SIGMEO focuses on advanced Simcenter applications. The two partners work together with SEAir Solutions engineers to make the most advanced digital twin applications a reality.

Additionally, SEAir Solutions was introduced to the Siemens startup program, which is for small- or medium-sized companies less than five years old. The program gives qualified startups access to Siemens Xcelerator technology and options for software as a service (SaaS) with preferential financial terms.

“Numerical simulation software is evolving fast in competitive sectors,” says Jean Guy Clemenceau, Simcenter expert at SIGMEO. “So, it’s important for the customer to have a partner that can bring all this technology together. It provides a wealth of technology to the customers.”

“Siemens Xcelerator is interesting for companies like SEAir Solutions because they can access many applications easily,” says Emmanuel Hiard, application engineer at JANUS Engineering. “That permits them to develop new products with all those applications. There is no limit, and they have access to the training platform as well.”

Depending on the software, SEAir Solutions uses JANUS Engineering or SIGMEO for support and continual improvement as they face their next big challenge: turn their stealth flyer into an autonomous vessel.

“It’s natural that both partner companies work together and propose great solutions for SEAir Solutions,” says Hiard.

“We have good relationships with both companies,” explains Forest. “It’s important to have the same spirit. They are small, local companies like us. They are experts in their domain, so when we have a question, it’s easy to have a call with them for technical support or training. We also use the Siemens Xcelerator Academy for online training. We appreciate the support of a global firm, whether it is Siemens or a smaller partner. It works very well.”