SNAME Section Meeting - Full
Apr 28, 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM (ET)
EVENT DESCRIPTION
We are excited to announce that this year’s in-person Joint Student Papers Night will be held April 28, 2026, at Boeing’s Research & Technology Office located at 3550 S Clark St, Arlington, VA on the 5th floor from 7:00 to 9:00 PM EDT. Both ASNE and SNAME members can participate in a night of networking and support of presentations and projects from local universities.
Please join us in supporting student design project presentations from George Mason University and the United States Naval Academy.
Cost of attendance is free for students, $15.00 for members, and $20.00 for non-members.
Pizza and a variety of drinks will be provided.
Come out and support these young professionals. We hope to see you there!
SPEAKER/PRESENTER
Directional Control of Sailboats Sailing Downwind
This study evaluates the effect of dynamic instability in sailboats when sailing downwind, with a specific focus on the phenomenon of broaching-to. Broaching occurs when a vessel experiences a sudden, uncontrollable turn toward the wind, often triggered by a microburst or an overtaking wave. This research fills a critical gap in existing literature by using first principles to explain how an overtaking wave affects the forces and moments of a yacht during such an event. Empirical relationships were established between wave slope and yaw to the hydrodynamic forces acting on the Center of Lateral Resistance (CLR). The model numerically evaluates forces acting on individual components, including the hull, rudder, keel, and sails, to assess directional stability. Validation was achieved through an experiment conducted at the Naval Academy Hydrodynamics Laboratory using a 1/10.62 scale model of a Navy 44 mkII. These tests measured sway forces and yaw moments across varying wave slopes to validate empirical predictions.
MIDN 1/C Mentel is a senior at the US Naval Academy. He studies in the Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering department, and has conducted research in the field of sailing vessels. Originally from Mount Vernon, WA, his interest for a maritime career arose by growing up in a maritime region. Upon graduation, he will commission into the Surface Warfare Community with an option to lateral transfer to the Engineering Duty Officer community after two sea tours as a junior officer. He will serve on the USS Sampson, DDG102, out of Seattle, WA as his first duty station. He looks forward to continue racing sailboats in the Seattle area while serving in the Navy.
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The Sea Sense team at George Mason University developed a modular autonomy-in-a box
system for autonomous surface vehicles (ASV) in preparation for the RoboBoat competition. The competition provides realistic testing grounds to advance autonomous maritime research and development by having the teams understand and work with sensor integration, vehicle safety, and autonomous navigation. Sea Sense developed the autonomous capabilities of the SS Otter, a previous senior capstone project. The Sea Sense team built off from the remote controlled boat and focused on navigation, obstacle avoidance by utilizing a 3D LiDAR, vision recognition system (object detection), and sonar capabilities. These sensors were integrated with a hybrid decision making system which enacts a small computer with Robot Operating Systems (ROS) and a flight controller to be the brain of the system. Finally, the system was designed to be portable, where all components were housed in a self-contained enclosure that can be transferred between multiple platforms with minimal reconfiguration. This setup allows for seamless autonomous capabilities and establishes a foundation that future teams can build upon by expanding on mission specific parameters.
Outside of competition, the autonomy system can be used for real world maritime applications such as environment monitoring, inspection and exploration, and improving maritime research. The ability to transfer a portable autonomy system allows it to be adopted and improved by other future teams for broader autonomous marine applications. This helps contribute to the advancement of maritime technology while also preparing students for careers in different maritime fields such as naval architecture, marine engineering, robotics, and autonomy."
The Sea Sense team at George Mason University: Rasean Boyd, Brian Portillo Melendez, Parag Burua, David Lancaster and Basim Felfel; Dr. Leigh McCue, Faculty Advisor
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NOTE: Registration for this event will end on Sunday, April 26th. Due to vendor requirements, walk-ins and late registrants will not be accepted.
#In-PersonEvent
Contact Information
Arlington, VA, United States