A process-based cost estimating tool for ship structural designs
By: by John M. Barentine
Publisher: Available from National Technical Information Service
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Springfield, Va
Language: eng
Number of pages: 214
Description: There is a significant need, and accompanying significant challenge, to concurrently consider performance, cost      and production issues from the very beginning of the design process. The greatest obstacle to this approach is      the lack of convenient and effective cost and performance models that can be integrated into a seamless design      workbench accessible to working engineers. Traditional models and analysis methods frequently do not      provide the sensitivity necessary to consider all the important variables impacting performance, cost and      production. Unfortunately, achieving this sensitivity at the concept design stage almost requires a detail design      level of analysis. Quick-look studies which currently are accomplished using parametric-based tools do not      have this sensitivity. The traditional design method does not adequately include production engineering or      material/supplier/logistical concerns early enough to have a substantive, positive impact on the design. Taking      an integrated approach, and using computer aided cost, analysis and synthesis tools can mitigate these      traditional design process failures. This thesis develops a method to integrate an existing naval ship concept      design synthesis tool (ASSET) and a commercial finite element structural analysis program (MAESTRO), with      refinements to an existing structural construction cost estimating program (NSRP 0398). The integration of      these separate programs provides the designer with a method of assessing the process-based cost and      performance impacts associated with certain structural and hull form parameters which affect or enhance      producibility. The structural parameters considered here are plate thickness, variety and number of structural      shape sizes, and the use of parallel mid-body. Hull form concepts considered include shear, camber, and      gaussian curvature.
Notes: Thesis (Degrees of Naval Engineer and Master of Engineering: Program in Marine Environmental Systems) Massachusetts Institute  of Technology, May 1996.

Bibliography: p. 131-133.

dk/dk cc:9996 10/21/96