Groupama Team France: 3DEXPERIENCE Platform for America's Cup Catamaran Design

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Groupama Team France: 3DEXPERIENCE Platform for America's Cup Catamaran Design

Case study shows how Groupama Team France used Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE and Designed For Sea to design, simulate and build a foiling catamaran under tight schedule and budget constraints.

Published

June 4, 2026

Read time

3 min read

Source

Groupama Team France adopted the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to accelerate virtual design, structural analysis and collaboration for the 35th America's Cup. The team modeled composites ply-by-ply, ran finite element analysis on foils and hulls, and shared a single 3D mock-up with internal crew and external suppliers. This unified environment eliminated file translation errors and enabled rapid iteration on weight, stiffness and safety requirements for a 50-foot Class AC foiler.

Key takeaways

Single integrated platform replaced separate tools for modeling, FEA and CFD, cutting file-exchange errors

Ply-by-ply composite modeling and virtual mock-ups allowed early crew feedback and reduced costly late changes

Real-time 3D collaboration with external foil builder improved communication speed and design quality

Finite element analysis enabled rapid trade-off studies between weight reduction and structural integrity

Digital prototype validated assembly fit on first physical build despite 18-month schedule

Market overview

SCR methodology note

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Important consideration

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