Hull–furniture interaction in the primary response to global loads of a carbon fibre sailing yacht

High performance sailing yachts are generally designed assuming high local and global loads transmitted by rigs to hull structures. The above-mentioned loading conditions can become critical for large hulls also in terms of displacements when composite materials are used. In this scenario, it is very important to use lightweight and high-performance materials, such as carbon fibres. In fact, also some 'non structural' components, such as outfit and furniture, are built in carbon fibres and, therefore, can be considered contributing to the hull local and global strength. The aim of this work is to investigate the contribution level of those 'non-structural' components to the hull strength. Two different finite element models of a 94 ft sailing yacht, with and without 'non structural components', have been carried out in order to evaluate their contribution to the primary hull response to longitudinal bending moment and dock tuning load.