Standardized Foundations Database for Combat Systems

Abstract

As a result of enhanced performance and mission requirements for Navy ships, ship design has dramatically increased the use of higher strength, lightweight steels and various local reinforcements, e.g., deck inserts, ring stiffeners, etc., in foundation designs to satisfy the design requirements for supporting machinery, consoles, and weapon systems among others. In additional to operational loading requirements, most of these foundations must also be designed to satisfy shock, vibration and other combat system requirements. While the same piece of equipment may be used in other ship contracts, the foundations are uniquely designed and require a separate analysis and drawing package. Computer modeling and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) have helped reduce the labor required to analyze foundations, but the high number of “unique” foundations as well as changes which necessitate a new analysis still create a large workload for engineers. This is further compounded by increased costs in production due to greater numbers of unique parts and materials that must be marked, stored, and retrieved later for fabrication. This goal of this project was to determine the cost-savings potential of leveraging past foundations work in designing, analyzing, and drawing foundations in the future. By the project’s conclusion Ingalls will have created a database for rapid access to previously-generated foundation information, the framework of which will be publicly available for all shipyards to populate with their own foundation information.