Class of 2016 Alumni Take Home International Hydrofoil Society’s Top Prize


Earlier this month, Webb won big at the International Hydrofoil Society (IHS) Mandles Prize for Hydrofoil Excellence!

Alumni Casey Brown ’16 and Cody Stansky ’16 took First Prize for their senior thesis entitled, “A Fluid Structure Interaction Analysis of Vertical-Lift-Producing Daggerboards.” The thesis analyzes the steady state fluid structure interactions, FSI, of high-performance sailing hydrofoils.

Additionally, Alumni Zachary Backas ’16 received Honorable Mention for his senior thesis entitled, “Parametric Optimization of Kiteboarding Hydrofoil Using Computational Fluid Dynamics.” The objectives of the thesis are (1) to develop a working procedure for parametric optimization in the programs CAESES and Star-CCM+ and (2) to utilize that to improve the performance of a provided base-model kiteboarding hydrofoil through a parametric optimization process.

Professor Adrian Onas served as the Faculty Adviser for both of the winning theses.

According to the IHS, Webb is the first school ever to win two of out of the organizations three prizes in one year.

Way to go Webbies!

Stansky – Brown Thesis Video

Backas Thesis Video

Background on this year’s competition:

Eight entries for the 2016 Mandles Prize were received, reflecting a wide range of hydrofoil-related technology. The HIS assembled a panel of judges to review the entries, and determined that this year’s winners were teams from Webb Institute and Cedarville University.

By virtue of applying for the 2016 HIS Mandles Prize, all students and their faculty advisers are now honorary members of the International Hydrofoil Society.