USE OF ADVANCED CAD/CAM/CAE TOOLS IN THE DESIGN OF NAVY VESSELS. THE FORAN APPROACH

摘要

Navy shipbuilding industry significantly differs from commercial shipbuilding industry. This difference is visible in all phases of the process, from the conceptual design to the operation of the vessels, passing through the construction itself. Regarding the design phases, in the commercial shipbuilding the conceptual and initial designs are driven by the operation costs of the ship, and the detail design is focused in reducing to the minimum the construction cost and timing. However, in the military shipbuilding the drivers at all stages are mainly the operability of the vessel and its lifecycle, being operation and construction costs important but not essential. This difference implies different engineering and design processes, and affects the way of using the CAD/CAM/CAE applications and other IT tools supporting the design phases. The intended paper describes the particularities of the design of navy vessels compared with commercial vessels, and the way in which shipbuilding oriented CAD/CAM/CAE Systems can be adapted to these particularities. It also tries to highlight how the design of military vessels can be improved by means of using such systems, and at the same time to explain how the technological improvements in the navy vessels affect to the development and evolution of the CAD/CAM/CAE Systems. Explicit reference in the paper is made to FORAN System, as it clusters the experience of SENER, a ship design company established more than 50 years ago, and the experience of several first class military shipbuilders all around the world users of this System.