Generation of the 3D CAD model of the hull structure at the initial ship design stage and its application

Currently, all design information of a hull structure is being first defined on 2D drawings not 3D CAD model at the initial ship design stage and then transferred to following design stages through the 2D drawings. This is caused by the past design practice, limitation on time, and lack of shipbuilding CAD systems supporting the initial design stage. As a result, the following design tasks such as the process planning and scheduling are being manually performed using the 2D drawings. For solving this problem, a data structure for shipbuilding CAD systems supporting the initial design stage is proposed and a prototype system is developed based on the data structure. The applicability of the system is demonstrated by applying it to various examples. The results show that the system can be effectively used for generating the 3D CAD model of the hull structure at the initial design stage. # 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.