Development of an Early-Stage Design Tool for Rapid of Distributed Ship Service Systems Modelling in Paramarine – A Submarine Case Study

The sophisticated 3D based synthesis that is enabled by the UCL Design Building Block (DBB) approach means the designer can model distributed ship service system(s) (DS3) physical entities to whatever level of detail deemed necessary well beyond the DS3 concept design level. The high flexibility of the Paramarine ship design toolset, particularly the descriptive ability provided by the DBB objects through storing data at different levels of design granularity, enables design exploration to different levels of design hierarchy. However, several drawbacks have been found in implementing such a sophisticated (fully 3-D) modelling tool in Early Stage Ship Design (ESSD). These include the effort to model or create each of the numerous features and placing them individually in the vessel’s configuration. The paper presents the development of an ESSD tool that can rapidly generate a submarine early stage design with significant DS3 definition. That definition is sufficiently descriptive but still general enough to allow the level of flexibility in design exploration required at early design stages. The tool aimed to make the 3D based synthesis execution process as simple as possible so that the designer is able to manipulate the 3D architecture of the vessel and focus on important architecturally driven decision making in ESSD. An ocean going conventionally powered submarine case study was undertaken and demonstrated the capability and the flexibility of the tool

Considerations For Future Fuels in Naval Vessels

Emissions regulations aimed at reducing carbon dioxide and other emissions are driving commercial research into alternative fuels. Being government owned, naval vessels are exempt from these regulations, but not auxiliary vessels including the RFA and patrol boats. Some governments have committed to meeting regulations where possible and public or even legal pressure may strengthen a requirement for operation on low-or zero emissions fuels in future, even if only in peacetime. These new fuels present major challenges for naval use, such as lower energy density, increased toxicity, increased flammability and explosion risk, which has implications on storage and use. This paper summarises ongoing work using the ZEOLIT tool, previously presented at INEC 2018, to assess the overall ship impacts of adopting alternative fuels over a range of warship sizes, rather than single exemplar designs. Application of methanol and ammonia to a generic frigate design has been found to lead to increases in size that do not seem excessive, and that more efficient but expensive machinery (fuel cells) is desirable as reductions in displacement are significant compared to increases in cost

The Network Block Approach Applied to the Initial Design of Submarine Distributed Ship Service Systems

The paper follows on from a recent IJME paper and summarises a new early-stage ship design approach. This is termed the Network Block Approach (NBA) and combines the advantages of the UCL 3D physically based ship synthesis Design Building Block (DBB) approach and the Virginia Tech originated Architecture Flow Optimisation (AFO) method for distributed ship service systems (DS3). The approach has been applied to submarine DS3 design and utilises: a set of novel frameworks; and Qinetiq’s Paramarine CASD suite features. The proposed NBA enables the development of a submarine concept design to different levels of granularities. These range from modelling individual spaces to locating various DS3 components and system routings. The proposed approach also enables the designer to balance the energy demands of a set of distributed systems. This is done by performing a steady-state flow simulation and visualising the complexity of the submarine DS3 in a 3D multiplex network configuration. The potential benefits and limitations from such a 3D based physical and network synthesis are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the Network Block Approach comparing it to previous applications of network theory which have been to surface ship design. It concludes that it would be possible to better estimate DS3 weight and space inputs to early-stage submarine design and also enable radical submarine configurations and DS3 options to be reflected in early stage submarine design for better concept exploration and requirement elucidation. Finally, further work on the sensitivity of the approach to designer inputs will be addressed in future papers

Proceedings of the Second FAROS Public Workshop, 30th September 2014, Espoo, Finland

FAROS is an EC FP7 funded, three year project to develop an approach to incorporate human factors into Risk-Based Design of ships. The project consortium consists of 12 members including industry, academia and research institutes. The second FAROS Public Workshop was held in Dipoli Congress Centre in Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland, on the 30th of September 2014. The workshop included keynotes from industry, papers on risk models for aspects such as collision and grounding, fire and the human element, descriptions of parametric ship models and the overall approach being adopted in the FAROS project

Survivability: The Human Element

Modern warship design is facing a number of drivers in terms of design, procurement and operation and these have both direct and indirect impacts on issues such as survivability and the human element. Guidance has been developed regarding Human Factors Integration (HFI), but this has generally focussed on detail design and fatigue. The UK MOD HFI Initiative describes HFI with 7 more holistic domains which are seen to have wider ship design impacts. This paper considers three current drivers on warship design for their impacts on survivability in the context of the human element. There were seen to be some interactions between different aspects of modern warship design and operation that again require a more holistic assessment of HF issues. The paper concludes that, although a more holistic approach is required, the increasing computerisation of the preliminary ship design process should allow tools to be developed to support this

Using the forward movement of a container ship navigating in the Arctic to air-cool a marine organic Rankine cycle unit

Ice coverage in the Arctic is declining, opening up new shipping routes which can drastically reduce voyage lengths between Asia and Europe. There is also a drive to improve ships energy efficiency to meet international emissions design regulations such as the mandated Energy Efficiency Design Index. The organic Rankine cycle is one thermodynamic cycle that is being actively examined to improve the design and operational efficiency of ships. Low heat sink temperatures can significantly increase waste heat recovery systems thermal efficiency. In Arctic regions, the ambient air temperature can be much lower than the sea temperature, presenting interesting opportunities. However, using air as the cooling medium requires larger condensers and power compared to a water-cooled system. This paper investigates the exploitation of the forward movement of a container ship navigating in the Arctic and density-change induced flows as means of moving air through the condenser to reduce the fan power required. The organic Rankine cycle unit uses the waste heat available from the scavenge air to produce electric power. A two-step optimisation method is used with the objective of minimising the annual CO2 emissions of the ship. The results suggest that the supportive cooling could reduce the fan power by up to 60%, depending on ambient air temperature

Examining the Impact of Future Alternative Fuels on Naval Vessels

Emissions regulation aimed at reducing air pollution, particularly carbon dioxide emissions, is driving commercial research into alternative fuels such as ammonia, methanol and hydrogen. Whilst naval ships, being government owned vessels, are exempt from this regulation, the ability to operate on such fuels may become a requirement for future combatants. This paper describes an ongoing study to examine the impact of alternative fuels over a range of naval vessel designs and sizes, using the ZEOLIT early-stage ship tool. The initial stage has examined an OPV, as this is a relatively simple type of vessel, which has already seen the adoption of dual-fuelling with LNG in some navies. Three future fuels have been investigated: methanol, ammonia and a Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier. The findings so far indicate that, for an OPV, these fuels lead to an increase in displacement, but not one that would render the ship impractically large

Design for Support in the initial Design Using the Network Block Approach: The Submarine Case

Distributed Ship Service Systems (DS3) can be a major constraint on the location of hull berth unit locations and transverse bulkheads, which are essential for access to conduct maintenance and thus contribute to submarine Sustainability. The paper proposes a new early-stage ship design (ESSD) approach that would aid the designer to consider DS3 physically and logically much earlier in the design process. This approach is termed the Network Block Approach and merges the advantages of the UCL 3D physically based ship synthesis Design Building Block (DBB) approach and the network-based approach for distributed ship service systems (DS3) synthesis already proposed for naval combatants. The proposed Network Block Approach enables the modelling of individual spaces to locate and zone various DS3 components and routings for hull unit boundaries and major bulkheads, which could improve maintenance. A discussion on the importance of DS3 routing is to warship Sustainability through the complexity of a submarine design example and how the proposed approach enables this to be explored in ESSD is presented

Semi-Automatic Distributed Ship Service Systems Routing Framework for Submarine Early-Stage Design

Part of the complexity of submarine design is that such needs are typified by extensive and densely engineered distributed ship service system(s) (DS3). Even though submarine early stage design is the phase to address major DS3 choices in the design process, in initial sizing and submarine synthesis reliance is often made on “past practice” and simple vessel displacement-based weight algorithms. Such an approach not only limits the ability of the concept designer to consider the impact of different DS3 options but also inhibits the opportunity (or necessity) to undertake Requirements Elucidation, specifically for DS3. One of the greatest challenges of DS3 synthesis is the development of the routing model of cables, ducting, and piping which can be time-consuming undertaken in Early Stage Ship Design (ESSD). Thus, this paper proposes a novel method for early stage routing of DS3 for a submarine. The approach uses network descriptions of the DS3 topology and computer-aided ship design (CASD) to produce DS3 routing rapidly in ESSD. The usefulness of the approach as an early stage design tool is demonstrated by using it to design the routing for various DS3 of a conventionally powered submarine