Pilot Tool for Linking Ship Design to Shipyard Simulation

Hill. T. W., Walden, C., Holt, R., & Greenwood, A. (2011). Pilot Tool for Linking Ship Design to Shipyard Simulation. Proceeding of ShipTech 2011 Conference. Biloxi, MS.

Abstract

During the last several years, many shipyards have turned to simulation modeling as an attractive tool for increasing shipbuilding competitiveness. The application of simulation models to the shipyard has provided value in terms of identifying bottlenecks in advance based on future scheduled requirements. Recent applications of shipyard modeling have primarily focused on the fabrication processes – for example, material preparation and panel lines. Emerging opportunities exist to extend modeling “toward the water”; first in outfitting and finally in erection. Despite relatively recent modeling activities, much of the potential for simulation in shipbuilding remains untapped. In order to more fully leverage modeling in a shipyard, one obstacle that needs to be addressed is improving the connection between design software, like ShipConstructor with discrete-event simulations of the shipyard. Therefore, there is a need to develop enhancements to existing software tools that enable the linkage of key elements of a ship’s design to simulation models. By incorporating up-to-date design data, with little or no manual data manipulation or entry by users, into the simulation models it makes performing analysis and making decisions more rapid and efficient. This NSRP panel project focuses on the development of a pilot linkage tool that bridges the gap between ShipConstructor and the discrete-event simulation package Flexsim. In addition, modeling approaches developed to address the outfitting modeling challenge and a prototype simulation model of the outfitting operations at a medium sized shipyard was constructed.