Developing a Prototype Concurrent Design Tool for Composite Topside Structures

Abstract

ABSTRACT A prototype concurrent engineering tool has been developed for the preliminary design of composite topside structures for modern navy warships. This tool, named CELS for the Concurrent Engineering of Layered Structures, provides designers with an immediate assessment of the impacts of their decisions on several disciplines which are important to the performance of a modern naval topside structure, including electromagnetic interference effects (EMI), radar cross section (RCS), structural integrity, cost, and weight. Preliminary analysis modules in each of these disciplines are integrated to operate from a common set of design variables and a common materials database. Performance in each discipline and an overall fitness function for the concept are then evaluated. A graphical user interface (GUI) is used to define requirements and to display the results from the technical analysis modules. Optimization techniques, including feasible sequential quadratic programming (FSQP) and exhaustive search are used to modify the design variables to satisfy all requirements simultaneously. The development of this tool, the technical modules, and their integration are discussed noting the decisions and compromises required to develop and integrate the modules into a prototype conceptual design tool.