Strategic applications of design and planning software to key shipbuilding areas, including surface preparation and coating

This project will evaluate the feasibility of developing software to address the following problems: (1) analysis, simulation, design and planning of surface preparation and coating of ships, (2) integrating statistical accuracy and distortion prediction into the design and planning process, (3) automatic extraction of weld planning data from CAD databases, and (4) integration of automatic planning and design tools with the popular ShipConstructor package. The tools are intended to generate accurate coating material and labor estimates and will interface with existing systems for estimating, material ordering, and scheduling. An existing automatic planning and design for producability tool, SmartPlan-ShipsT, will be used as the framework for development of this new software capability. To address the needs of a number of U.S. shipyards, an interface will be designed to allow the SmartPlan-ShipsT automatic design and planning software tools to interoperate with the ShipConstructor software package. A working prototype will be developed in Phase I for piping.