An initial hull structural modeling system for computer-aided process planning in shipbuilding

At the initial stage of ship design, it is difficult for designers to define all design information of a hull structure on 2D drawings. Thus, other designers must undertake the arduous task of translating such information to generate a 3D CAD model of the hull structure which is required at the following design stage such as the initial process planning stage. Since this task needs much time and effort, the 3D CAD model is not being generated at the initial design stage. For solving this problem, an initial hull structural modeling system is developed in this study. The applicability of the developed system is demonstrated by applying it to a deadweight 300,000 ton VLCC (Very Large Crude oil Carrier). The results show that the developed system can quickly generate the 3D CADmodel of the hull structure and accurately extract the production material information for computer-aided process planning at the initial design stage. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.