Jump to content

rudder design


Recommended Posts

gday everyone, im toying with the idea of building some new rudder blades and centreboards.

does anyone know what the optimum shape characteristics are???

specifically i would like to know:

1, length between leading edge and trailing edge

2, thickness and where to position max width 33%? 45%?

3, depth

thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

google profili - there's a free version which does do printouts. you can select from hundreds of designs but the NACA four series ones seem to be most common (and possibly a good starting point) eg NACA0010 is a 10% chord (about 35% back I think). To be adventurous try the Eppler series, they have a bit of negative flow in the trailing edge. If you bevell the trailing edge so its not symetric eg put a flat of about 1ml and make it 60 degrees then you may eliminate hum caused by the fluid from one side smashing into the fluid from the other side, with a chamfer, one side wins.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks knobbly, i found a centreboard and rudder profile design from the chris tucker stable, for the DS 12 with a 150 and a 165mm profile, both 20mm thick and both have a 35% max width. but i will check out profili. thanks. i have also seen the assymetric trailing edge from the AHPC website. does it matter if you have the asy metric both in or out??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't get to excited about the DS12 foils. You get what you pay for, those are just standard Naca sections. My own foils are quite different but there are better people than me out there. I recently discussed this with Richard Roake who has forgetten more about "ideal" shapes than I know and he recommends Eppley E836 as a starting point.

12% thickness is pretty typical.

Chris Tucker

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok thanks chris, all good starting points. the mackenzie foils seem to be a little over 12%. it all comes down to cost doenst it?? do i spend the three weeks evry night in the shed to get a half reasonable product or do i just spend the $700 or so bucks and buy them?? and get a just about perfect finish?? hahahah

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think thats in the Profili catalogue. Oh look, yes it is EPPLER E836 Hydrofoil max thickness 12.64% at 42.8% of the chord. Looks like it has a slight concave section towards the trailing edge.

I suspect that by the time you've stuffed about in the freezing shed you'll be glad to stump up with the cash!!

There's a lot of information on places like the Moth sites.

I went through all this for my Careel 18 (only one rudder) but ended up buying a Castle 650 jobbie for $500. Money very well spent (included a s/s stock too). I subsequently bought a blade made for a Bull 7000 in an attempt to reduce whetted surface and weight but it didn't help and I managed to break an aluminium plate rudder stock I'd made up. Should have stopped while I was ahead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

that website CTMD linked is awesome! I flicked through a few and was pleased to find the profile I have used in the past, NACA0012, has the highest stall angle; 7.5degrees

http://www.worldofkrauss.com/foils/1137

They have the chord at 30% from leading edge, which I think works better for rudders; where stall angle is your most critical factor. Rudders that stall dont turn; they just slow the boat down.

The ones I made were laminated hardwood, which have the advantage of being easy to shape and quite strong without fibreglassing. Disadvantage; weight. The idea was to test shapes and then use the best for a buck to mould carbon copies, but still haven't got onto that bit.

I thought thicker increases maximum angle possible before stalling, but at the expense of more drag. Total drag = frontal area x drag coefficient. Reducing thickness reduces frontal area. In an experiment I cut 2 inches off the trailing edge of some old wooden rudders, reshaped to NACA0012 and they worked better than they ever had before! Then snapped in half. Damn cedar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thanks everyone for your help, i have downloaded profili2 and have downloaded the eppler836 into a cad file so i can calc the x sections/offsets along the chord. yes it does have a concave tail section, but according to my cad program the depth of the concave is less than 1 mm, in fact it is 0.3mm. and the concave only happens in the last 40mm of the blade. = wrap a vb bottle in sand paper, up and back twice. job done.

basically it is a 12.65% chord thickness with max width at 41.5% of the chord ( from the front)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mitch/jeff, i have A class boyer rudders on my stingray, and i have never blown a tack on it. where did you guys get your tornado rudders from? maybe i look into that and put my foam sandwich boyer rudders on my A, tornado rudders on my stingray, which is basically a mini tornado!!

bad dog, i will post some pics etc when i pick the boat up, in about two weeks time.

as far as i know, its a genuine built boyer out of ply. so is mk1 or 2 not sure, has varnished decks, about 20 years old according to john dowling who built a boat one or two numbers different. not sure on weight, but i would say not minimum!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

stall angle; the maximum angle the shape can be turned before laminar flow breaks off and becomes turbulent. For example when pushing the rudders over as you begin to tack, a higher stall angle will allow the rudders to be pushed further and the boat turn more quickly. Pushing the rudders beyond this angle generates a lot of drag and not much force; so the boat slows down and doesn't turn very well.

Thinking about working with this stall angle; first push the rudders to 6 or 7 degrees, and only push further when the boat starts to turn and the back of the boat is moving sideways. I use a string between rear beam and rudder crossbar to limit how far I push the rudders across. Maybe a bit of elastic which starts to take tension at the stall angle and then allow stretch for maximum turn would reduce stalling.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unfortunately there is no one ideal shape or section to suit all speeds, generally the higher the speed the further back the max chord thickness. Lets face it, you are not always going to be sailing at speeds where laminar flow happens, in fact I wager that most of the time it will be a turbulent flow situation.

Harry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian - I used to have Boyer Taipan/A rudders - great rudders, never had any real problems with them!

I got my Tornado rudders direct from Jim Boyer about 18 months ago - He was clearing out his shed and advertised a whole heap of stuff on here! I bought them without anything to do with them but figured one day they would come in handy!

When I got Last Tango the rudders were crap and the stocks were shot! Given what happened on The Shadow I got the transoms beefed up, and put AHPC F18 stocks on with the Tornado blades... beautiful!

To give you an idea... The Marstrom gear Jeff has on his Taipan..... new...... $4k at your door!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

COUGH COUGH SPLUTTER!!!! WTF?? four grand? at that price i can get spares!!! :p think ill walk down to hardware store and buy a wood plane. shit i could buy a new router and get someone to CNC me the perfect shape router template out of steel and id still have change!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...