An Object-Oriented Model for Conceptual Ship Design Supporting Case-Based Design

Design of ships, including warships such as submarines, is normally begun with a feasibility study. The feasibility study provides initial proof of concept and becomes a basis for further efforts. Because time and information for analysis is usually limited, historical design data is typically used to help with the generation of conceptual designs. To support automation of design efforts under these circumstances, adaptation and reuse of earlier designs represents a very useful paradigm. This paper presents a data storage system to store historical design data for subsequent reuse in conceptual design. The database is designed to support case-based reasoning and other similar processes in which recall of past solutions becomes a basis for adaptation to form a new solution. The stored data support conceptual design for a submarine or ship using previous design information. The data involve complex geometric information, and an object oriented database system is presented. The object-oriented database stores complex information in a useful format for recall on a "similar to" basis. This architecture allows case-based reasoning and other recall-based systems to utilize feature-based design information based on similarity to new requirements. To avoid using information that is sensitive and/or classified, this system is demonstrated using unclassified commercial submarine and Maritime Administration ship data. Experiences with two generations of prototype software are discussed, and conclusions about system utility are reached.