(Fluent Inc., Lebanon NH, USA and EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland)

The landlocked European nation of Switzerland is not renowned for its seafaring traditions. However, in Auckland, New Zealand during the last three months this stereotype was firmly knocked on the head, as the Swiss-based Alinghi Challenge, skippered by Russell Coutts, won yachting's blue ribbon event, the America's Cup, from two-time holders Team New Zealand in a dramatic 5 - 0 series. This has been one of the most unprecedented yachting victories in the 152-year history of the venerable competition.

At the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland - the Official Scientific Advisor to the Alinghi Challenge for the 2003 America's Cup - researchers working in the group of Prof. Alfio Quarteroni have applied leading-edge numerical flow simulation techniques using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. These simulations have provided valuable information to the Alinghi Designers Rolf Vrolijk and Manolo Ruiz del Elvira who, together with Coordinator Grant Simmer, designed the winning high-performance Alinghi racing yacht.

The use of the commercial CFD software FLUENT from Fluent Inc., along with in-house and third party codes, has allowed the EPFL and Alinghi to analyze hydrodynamic and aerodynamic flows, and even yacht/yacht interactions. CFD has allowed Alinghi to obtain a competitive edge in an application area where small performance improvements result in significant time gains.

Grant Simmer, Coordinator of the Alinghi Design Team noted that "To have a realistic hope of winning the America's Cup, we needed to excel in many areas. That's the reason the partnership with EPFL was so important to us. The EPFL's academic expertise helps us to validate ideas quickly in broad fields such as material resistance, structural integrity, aero- and hydrodynamics. In particular, the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations have provided Alinghi with essential information necessary for optimal design choice."

Prof. Alfio Quarteroni from the EPFL added that "We are very proud of Alinghi's strong performance in the America's Cup, and we are pleased that our CFD group was able to contribute to the victory."

Gerard de Neuville, Corporate Vice President of Fluent Inc. and Manager of Fluent France shared in the excitement of Alinghi's win, "The EPFL has been using CFD software from Fluent Inc. for several years now and we are pleased that our code's success in other sporting areas such as Formula 1 Motor Racing and Olympic Sports has been repeated by Alinghi. All South Europeans salute this unique sporting victory by the Swiss team."

For more information, check out the following links:

http://www.fluent.com/about/news/newsletters/02v11i2/a10.htm

http://ima.epfl.ch/cmcs/NewResearch/americascup.php3

http://www.alinghi.com/

About Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

The EPFL was founded as an engineering school 150 years ago, and became a Federal University in 1969. Today, it is one of the two leading scientific and technological universities in Switzerland fostering innovative business creation and technology transfer initiatives. The EPFL has a long experience in numerical simulation for scientific and engineering applications, in areas ranging from turbines to plasma physics and fusion, atomistic and molecular simulations to atmospheric pollution modelling, and automotive simulations to aeronautics. Lately, numerical simulation has been applied to model biological and medical systems as well.

About Alinghi

Alinghi Swiss Challenge for the America's Cup was founded in 2000 by Ernesto Bertarelli, Michel Bonnefous and Russell Coutts. A key element of Alinghi is the Design Team led by Principal Designer Rolf Vrolijk and Coordinator Grant Simmer. The Alinghi Design Team consists of 12 dedicated engineers, naval architects and computer scientists. In Auckland in 2003, AlinghiTM yacht SUI64 won the Louis Vuitton Cup (beating 8 other challengers from 5 nations) and then won the America's Cup (beating the defender, Team New Zealand).

About Fluent

Fluent is the world's largest provider of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and consulting services. Fluent's software is used for simulation, visualization, and analysis of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions. It is a vital part of the computer-aided engineering (CAE) process for companies around the world and is deployed in nearly every manufacturing industry. Using Fluent's software, engineers build virtual prototypes of new or existing equipment. The simulations help them assess the performance of various designs, allowing them to optimize the equipment, reduce design or operating costs, and cut the time to market. Fluent's corporate headquarters are located in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA, with offices in Belgium, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan and Sweden. Its CFD software is also available around the world through joint ventures, partnerships, and distributors in Korea, Australia, Brazil, China, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Middle East, and most European countries.

FLUENT® is a registered trademark of Fluent Inc.