Space Layout Design Using Computer Assisted Methods

Abstract

The paper describes work which is being carried out as part of a collaborative research programme between the British warshipbuilding company, Yarrow Shipbuilders Ltd., and the Department of Naval Architecture at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Recent developments in CAD have made available to the designer a wide range of hardware and software which encourage the application of interactive, graphics‐based design procedures. Such methods can be of significant benefit in modern warships design where the optimal utilization of ‘space’ is a primary design goal. Two facets which influence and control space management systems are the adjacency of functional areas and the environment into which a space is to be placed. Recent work concerned with the geometric representation and manipulation of architectural arrangements has been adapted for use in marine vehicle design. An optimal design procedure which utilizes the theory of fuzzy sets is used to achieve the general layout of space which allows the delineation of the main compartments of a vessel. The hull envelope can be generated using a surface generation module or by using previously faired basis ship offsets held in a data base. Having defined the compartmental configuration of the functional spaces the next level of design is concerned with a more detailed consideration of compartments, or groups of compartments and the equipment and systems they contain. Equipment is defined in terms of ergonomic envelopes, geometry and connectivity of services etc. The attributes of a 3‐D graphics workstation are used, in conjunction with an equipment library, to provide an effective detailed design procedure. The layout of equipment in spaces usually concerns the achievement of goals which conflict or have different priorities. The use of optimal goal programming techniques is suggested as a way of solving the multi‐objective problem. As illustrative examples of the method the layout of the victual complex and dining areas for a small warship are generated.

Intelligent Ship Arrangements: A New Approach to General Arrangement

“…An ideal way to treat this type of problem is with fuzzy optimization. The use of this approach was first proposed in Nehrling (1985) and then utilized in other arrangements design efforts such as Cort and Hills (1987) and more recently in Slapnicar and Grubisic (2003) and Ölçer et al (2006). Fuzzy optimization has been adopted here as well.…”

Intelligentized work-preparation for ship hull construction with Optimized Assembly Planning System

“…The assembly sequence for shipbuilding requires a wide dynamic knowledge base. In this field, Cho, Sun, and Oh (1999) [7] developed an expert system for block operation planning system in which the system could determine welding postures, welding methods, and welding machines. Cho, Lee, and Chung [8], [9] earlier developed a block assembly planning system for bigger blocks which may require turnovers.…”

SPIDA: Abstracting and generalizing layout design cases

“…A hierarchical approach to layout design problems has been suggested by various design researchers and used in design practice (Eastman, 1973;Pfefferkorn, 1975;Carlson & Fireman, 1987;Cort & Hills, 1987). In this approach, a layout is generated hierarchically from groups of spaces (abstract) to smaller groups (more specific) and so on until the layout is completely determined.…”