This work presents a full scale experimental study on the aero-elastic wind/sails/rig interaction in real navigation condition with the aim to give a reliable database of unsteady measurement. This database is used for the investigation of the dynamic behavior and loads in the rigging and for an experimental validation of an unsteady Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) model. An inboard instrumentation system has been developed on a 8 meter yacht (J80 class) to simultaneously and dynamically measure the navigation parameters, yacht's motion, sails flying shape, wind and loads in the rigging. A special effort is made on mechanical and geometrical characteristics measurement, sensors calibration and data acquisition system synchronization. Results show that the instrumented boat is a reliable tool to measure the unsteady phenomena in navigation. Dynamic measurements at sea underline the load variation encountered, which represent 20 to 50% of the mean value in a moderate sea state. Oscillations of loads exhibit phase shift with the trim angle, reason for an hysteresis phenomenon, which shows that the dynamic behavior of a sail plan subject to yacht motion clearly deviates from the quasi-steady theory. Simulations are made with ARAVANTI, an implicit coupling of a Finite Element Method structural model ARA and an inviscid fluid model which restricts the simulation domain to upwind conditions. The simulation results compare very well with the experimental data for steady sailing conditions and show a good agreement in unsteady conditions (head swell). Numerical investigation of a sail plan submitted to harmonic pitching motion underlines the importance of FSI modeling and shows that the energy exchanged by the system with the swell increases with the motion reduced frequency and amplitude. Some information is not accessible on the instrumented boat and requires developing a controlled test case in laboratory. The experiment consists of a spinnaker fabric square mounted on two carbon battens moved in forced oscillation. This test case is used to study FSI phenomena with a separated flow and gives experimental results for the validation of the coupling ARA-ISIS of a RANS fluid model with the same structure model.
