Ship design using the ship smart system design tool: An evaluation of the tools and methods necessary to facilitate the design of modern ships with complex interdependent systems

Ship design has evolved rapidly in recent years. Ship systems are no longer static loads but rather a structure of dynamically interacting components, which transfer energy into propulsive power, sensing power, waste heat, and weapons systems. The Ship Smart System Design (S3D) tool was developed to create a cloud-based collaborative early stage ship design software tool for use across multiple engineering disciplines. This software makes a significant step forward in ship design by incorporating the capability for real time concurrent engineering across multiple disciplines and simultaneous simulation capability across all systems and disciplines. These capabilities are vital as the interactions between ship systems become increasingly complex and the necessity for improved efficiency and reduced margins influence design.;This work will evaluate S3D as a design tool for the design of a range of naval vessels from a traditional destroyer to a state of the art liquefied natural gas fueled warship. The pros and cons of ship design using S3D will be evaluated for these applications, and recommendations for areas of improvement will be addressed. Additionally, an evaluation of traditional ship design methods including design spiral and set based design will be conducted and a hybrid design method will be proposed as the most effective design method when using real time collaborative engineering tools like S3D. The simulation capabilities of S3D allow designers to reduce design margins in power flow systems by incorporating a mission planner and operating scheme simulations, making it a powerful design tool for the Navy-After-Next. Results of the analysis identify areas for future expansion of the capabilities of S3D, particularly for use with a set based or hybrid design method.