Final Report Summary - IMPROVE (Design of improved and competitive products using an integrated decision support system for ship production and operation) The main objective of the IMPROVE project was to design three different types of next generation vessels by integrating different aspects of ship structural design into one formal framework and applying it. The nature of shipbuilding in Europe is to build small series of very specialised ships (the opposite of the Korean and Chinese shipyards). Thus, the IMPROVE project addressed ships which, with their complex structures and design criteria, are at the top of the list for customisation. The IMPROVE consortium identified the next generation of large ROPAX ship, product / chemical carrier and LNG gas carrier as the vessels the most suitable for European yards to focus their energies on. These products are:1. a new generation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) gas carrier to enhance the competitiveness of European shipyard like CAT-ALSTOM; 2. an innovation concept of large ROPAX for a European ship-owner like GRIMALDI, and finally3. a chemical production carrier / tankers, which are of the first interest for European shipyard as Szczecin new shipyard (SSN), as this type of tankers is a 'niche' for such shipyards.The project was structured into the following work packages (WPs):WP2: Problem definition and model definition.WP 2 served to establish the goals for the three new products to be viable and to check the results obtained in the course of the project. The naval architectural aspects of the new concept designs of the products were addressed as a part of this WP. Besides, the WP aimed to address the following specific objectives: - definition of the multi-stakeholder framework in design of ship structures; - definition of particular interests of stakeholder for the specific application cases; - definition of design objectives or attributes, variables and constraints; - identification and selection of methods to solve the structural, production and operation issues affecting design; - synthesis of needed actions into a framework for integrated procedure for design of ship structures.WP 3: Load and response modulesThe overall objective of WP3 was to develop and validate missing calculation modules that would be integrated with the core design tools through WP5.WP 4: Production and operational modulesThe overall objective of this WP was to assess the production and operational phase. Regarding these phases an investigation was done regarding the application of simplified and advanced existing tools. Therefore, existing generic toolkits were selected, compared, tested and adjusted with point of view of ship owner and shipyards. The main achievements which were implemented during the project were:- module of life cycle cost / earning of production and maintenance / repair; - module with detailed discrete event simulation (DES) for production and scheduling; - module for design robustness of the structural solution related to various fabrication and operation parameters.WP 5: Integration.IMPROVE was not primarily aimed at setting up a generic integration platform. Instead, a pragmatic approach to let the tools used in the different work packages communicate with each other easily was the goal of the integration work package. Only in cases where the simple communication was not feasible, a more complex environment was set up as described in the work plan. The integration team was coordinated by ANAST and composed of BALANCE and USCS (subsidiary company of ULJANIK shipyard), two experienced software developers that led the two major sub-tasks of WP5. The integration was based upon existing solutions in order to avoid development work to an as large extent as possible. Available interfaces and file exchange formats were adapted according to the exchange needs. In order to avoid the necessity of a large number of interfaces, a central database hub was used as the centre for the inter-module communication. A design desktop was developed to support the engineer in testing and using the IMPROVE tools.WP 6: LNG concept The main objective of this WP was the development of a new generation of gas carriers (LNG). The focus here was on the least cost and least weight optimizations by analysing the influence of the new IMPROVE modules (sloshing, fatigue and multi-structure on the optimized scantling using LBR-5 code. This optimisation was completed by a global one using 3D FEM MAESTRO model, to provide the decision support problem (DSP) rationale for multi-criteria (weight, cost and centre of gravity) based optimisation. Fatigue calculations were done with VeriSTAR software (Bureau FEM software) to validate the fatigue module results. The study was completed by crashworthiness study and the sloshing direct calculations. In spite of a worse propeller efficiency of the new 'free ballast' design, in comparison with a conventional LNG carrier with the same main dimensions, LNG savings (consumed by engines) reach between 0,56 % and 10 %, corresponding to 0,53 and 9,5 tons of gas per day. Furthermore, the quantity of ballast water transported is more than 80 % reduced in the most pessimistic hypothesis. This solution presents other important ecological and economical advantages. However, new 'free ballast' design has one main disadvantage. Its 13 meters design draught is bigger than draught restriction in some terminals. Consequently, such a design would be better adapted to smaller ships. Furthermore, smaller ships which usually have shorter routes are more concerned by time and energy wasted for ballast operations. Finally, manifold maximum height for gas transfer is less constricting.WP 7: ROPAX concept This WP7 has as a main objective the development of an innovative 'new generation of large RoPax vessels' by using the IMPROVE RDMM concepts. Uljanik Shipyard in the last five years has designed several Ro-Ro, Con-Ro and RoPax vessels for different ship-owners. An innovative RoPax design has resulted from a multi-stakeholder (MS) approach where shipyards and ship-operators were involved and used the decision support environment for the key decisions on the new product. Challenging goals for RoPax application case, as defined at the beginning of the IMPROVE project, have been fully achieved during this project. Ship-owner profit has been significantly increased due to reduction in fuel consumption (better propulsion and ship hull form, reduced weight, etc.), increase in payload (increased parking area). It is also very important to acknowledge that reduction of fuel consumption has significantly reduced CO2 emission, thus increasing environmental friendliness and also ensuring that legal requirements related to the pollution would be easier satisfied in the future.WP 8: Chemical tanker concept WP 8 was about the IMPROVE chemical tanker concept. This was based on the expertise of SSN with respect to chemical and product tankers. The constraints of the optimisation were strength criteria and production requirements according to shipyard specification. Production requirements were considered as minimum and maximum values of the design variable ranges. The finite element model was defined with the element size suitable also for ultimate strength estimation. The calculations show that the IMPROVE chemical tanker satisfies the stability requirements of applicable rules and regulations. The total weight reduction after the structural optimisation was 10 % compared to the initial shipyard design. The 3D finite element stress analysis unveiled that the global strength of the structure is sufficient.WP 9: Lessons learned, recommendations, exploitation and dissemination This work package included reports on the new products, results and recommendations as derived from the respective experiments and simulations.More information on the project can be found at the official website, at: http://www.improve-project.eu. Related documents Final Report - IMPROVE (Design of improved and competitive products using an integrated decision support system for ship production and operation)
