Man-Computer Graphics in Preliminary Ship Design

Abstract

The Naval Ship Engineering Center through its Computer Aided Ship Design and Construction Office is working toward maximum effective use of computers in the Navy's ship design process. Many batch type analyses were developed but certain naval architectural problems, such as ship hull form creation and arrangements, cannot readily be handled by the computer without human intervention. Hence, interactive graphics developments were required. The existing interactive graphics programing languages were applicable only to the hardware for which they were written. To minimize conversion problems of inevitable hardware configuration changes, a portable interactive graphics language was developed and used. The active graphics programs described herein are under continuing development and in use for hull form generation, deck and bulkhead location, and topside and internal room arrangements. In their present form, they are applicable to early stage feasibility and preliminary design. The Integrated Ship Design System (ISDS) is being developed to allow communication of all types of design programs, including interactive graphics through a common data base; so that all applicable preliminary ship design tasks can be done within the computer environment.