Case Study: Istanbul Technical University achieves award‑winning, rapid and cost‑effective solar boat design with SolidWorks

Powering a world-class solar boat design team with SolidWorks solutions

Istanbul Technical University’s Solar Boat Team needed to bring together naval architecture, mechanical, industrial design, and electrical students to compete internationally at ASME’s SOLAR SPLASH while avoiding costly physical prototyping and accelerating newcomer contributions. To meet that challenge they standardized on SolidWorks, using SolidWorks Education Edition along with SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks Flow Simulation for 3D design, structural analysis, and CFD.

By implementing SolidWorks tools the team could visualize, simulate, and iterate hull and systems designs quickly, enabling innovations like an air-cavity hull; SolidWorks helped shorten a typical 20-month R&D cycle to one month, cut prototyping costs by 66%, accelerate new-member productivity, and earn multiple competition design awards. SolidWorks’ integrated simulation and surfacing capabilities were key to these measurable improvements.

Istanbul Technical University

Munir Cansin Ozden

Founder and Graduate Advisor