space / volume/ weights arrangements

[RThompson]

Hi there,

I'm interested in methods of modelling volumetric and weight arrangements of vessels, with respect to intact stability, and general arrangement

eg engine room = 100m^3 and cg is x,y,z
fuel tank is 45m^3 and cg is xyz
fresh water is 20m^3 etc

now clearly the tanks can be various shapes in various locations which will impact stability. and general arrangement.

And so, how does one go about varying the locations and shapes of things in order to optimise said stability and general arrangement. Or rather, are there any algorithms, methods etc that can be used to efficiently cycle through many feasible permutations and calculate stability/trim for various loading conditions.

basically what I hope to do (as a learning exercise, and for future use ) is find or develope a simple genetic algorithm to optimise this problem, or more likely take a bite at the problem. It is obviously very complex -probably a phd just there - I am just interested in looking at it.


anyway any directions to papers, books, etc thankfully received.
Rob

[PI Design]

Universtity College London (UCL) have developed a methodology called the Design Building Block method (sometimes known as the Functional Building Block method) for designing naval vessels. This methodology (incorporated into the SURFCON module of PARAMARINE) allows you to design the ship from the inside out, so that things like tank locations can be optimised. The technique is being increasingly used by the UK MoD. It is not yet widely known in the commercial or yacht worlds, but there is no reason it wouldn't work just as well.
Some links:
http://www.meng.ucl.ac.uk/~nag_web/p...ts/surfcon.pdf

http://www.grc-ltd.co.uk/products/pa...ign.asp?pnum=2

http://www.grc-ltd.co.uk/partners/ft...p%20Design.pdf

There are papers published in various journals about it too, but these aren't available for free on the internet.

[RThompson]

Thanks a lot Pi Design.

Theres some really good stuff there to get through

..."There are papers published in various journals about it too, but these aren't available for free on the internet."

I have access to various journals etc, if you have specific papers you could reference.

the "http://www.meng.ucl.ac.uk/~nag_web/pdf/pdf_handouts/surfcon.pdf" link doesn't seem to work, however a google search for surfcon produced this:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/research...kyo04/yang.pdf

which references several papers.

Thanks again,
Rob

[PI Design]

Hello,
Sorry,

I'ma way for a few days, so don't have stuff to hand - but the most recent paper was published in WARSHIP 2007, a RINA conference held in June. Google RINA.