The appfication of a Computervision CADCAM system in ship design and building is presented. The complexity of the design of ships meant that the Computervision software had to be adapted to the specific requirements of the ship design company~ Vosper Thornycroft. The objectives, approach and method used by Vosper Thornycroft in developing the software is described, and problems experienced in applying the system are examined.
computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, ship design, ship building, composite block philosophy
Vosper Thornycroft has for some gears sought to adopt new techniques in the design arid building of ships. The major type of vessel that the company is experienced in developing is the sophisticated and complex modern warship for countries around the world. The types of vessels range from small patrol boats to frigates and destroyers. Within this range of vessels there is obviously a range of materials used for the basic structure, including steel, aluminium alloy and glass-reinforced plastic.
In 1983 the company commenced a major investment programme into CADCAM. A CADCAM system was required and the one chosen was the Computervision CADDS 4X system. Initially, an installation of six graphic and two alphanumeric screens was purchased; this quickly grew by the end of 1984 to 36 graphic and eight alphanumeric screens. The full system also has a range of peripherals, including line printers, electrostatic plotters, pen plotter, paper tape punch readers etc.
In purchasing the Computervision system, it was recognised that there was no software specifically for ship building available. What was available was a wide range of integrated packages that could be adapted to our requirements. A 'shaded picture' of a Vosper Thornycroft design of an offshore patrol vessel produced on the Computervision system is shown in Figure 1.