Multi-objective optimization of ship design from a holisitic point of view

What is it about?

Ship design is a complex endeavor requiring the successful coordination of many disciplines, of both technical and non technical nature, and of individual experts to arrive at valuable design solutions. Inherently coupled with the design process is design optimization, namely the selection of the best solution out of many feasible ones on the basis of a criterion, or rather a set of criteria. A systemic approach to ship design may consider the ship as a complex system integrating a variety of subsystems and their components, e.g. subsystems for cargo storage and handling, energy/power generation and ship propulsion, accommodation of crew/passengers and ship navigation. Indepedently, considering that ship design should actually address the whole ship’s life cycle, it may be split into various stages that are traditionally composed of the concept/preliminary design, the contractual and detailed design, the ship construction/fabrication process, ship operation for an economic life and scrapping/recycling. It is evident that an optimal ship is the outcome of a holistic optimization of the entire, above defined ship system over her whole life cycle. But even the simplest component of the above defined optimisation problem, namely the 1st loop (conceptual/preliminary design), is complex enough to be simplified (reduced) in practice. Inherent to ship design optimization are also the conflicting requirements resulting from the design constraints and optimization criteria (merit or objective functions), reflecting the interests of the various ship design stake holders. The present paper provides a brief introduction to the holistic approach to ship design optimization, defines the generic ship design optimization problem and demonstrates its solution by use of advanced optimisation techniques for the computer-aided generation, exploration and selection of optimal designs. It discusses proposed methods on the basis of some typical ship design optimisation problems with multiple objectives and leading to improved and partly innovative designs with increased cargo carrying capacity, inceased safety and survivability, reduced required powering and improved environmental protection. The application of proposed methods to the integrated ship system for life-cycle optimisation problem remains a challenging but straightforward task for the years to come.

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Why is it important?

ship design is a complex discipline in which many, often contradicting objectives and constraints need to be rationally considered

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