SHIP DESIGN COMPUTER PROGRAMS —AN INTERPOLATIVE TECHNIQUE

Abstract

ABSTRACTNaval ship design synthesis computer programs, the original development of which was pioneered by the U.S. Navy, are now used by the U.S. Navy to conduct feasibility design studies and to conduct reverse engineering analyses of foreign ships. The use of these computer programs has substantially reduced the time and cost of conducting feasibility design trade‐off studies and has allowed the ship designer to develop very accurate design solutions that can be effectively used as the basis for preliminary and contract design.The paper describes an interpolative technique for ship design which the authors have developed and incorporated in a variety of ship design synthesis computer programs, without any loss in the accuracy of the design solution. The interpolative technique short cuts the classic and time consuming design spiral approach to conducting ship design studies, which was incorporated in the original ship design computer programs. The interpolative technique also significantly reduces computer operating costs and provides the ship designer with the flexibility required to quickly study the performance and cost impact of using any number of innovative ship configurations.The paper describes programming techniques and ship design logic which allow a ship design computer program to be used to study the impact of using alternative ship design criteria and practices, including different types of hull forms and stability criteria. Also discussed are alternative ways that ship design parametric data can be developed for use in a ship design synthesis computer program. An example of a ship design study which was conducted using the interpolative technique is shown.