Page 14: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2, 2010)

14 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

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The Executive Control Board of the

NSRP awarded funding for eight new re- search projects as part of the Navy/Indus- try co-funded portfolio focusing on cost reduction in the U.S. shipbuilding and ship repair industry.

These new projects, valued at approxi- mately $16m including industry cost share, include:

Weld Shrinkage and Distortion

Allowance for Neat Construction Project

Yard: Bollinger Shipyards

Team Members: Northrop Grumman Ship- building-Gulf Coast; Todd Pacific Ship- yards; Marinette Marine; ShipConstructor

USA; Gatekey Engineering; Edison Weld- ing Institute; Hepinstall Consulting Group;

Victoria Dlugokecki

Objective: To map weld shrinkage and re- sulting distortion for both uniform and non-uniform steel assemblies, and apply the mapping data via regression analysis.

Deliverables will include a computer model of weld shrinkage data for uniform and non-uniform panels. $4m

Common Parts Catalog Enhancements

Yard: GD Electric Boat

Objective: To analyze, identify and moni- tor the implementation of distinct en- hancements to the current Common Parts

Catalog -- a real-time, searchable inter- shipyard parts catalog currently used in production in several shipyards. This proj- ect will focus on enhancements in: Net- work, Software and Application Changes;

Model Inclusion and Exchange; and Func- tional Enhancements. $4m

Streamlining Shipyard Rigging Analysis

Project Lead: GD NASSCO

Objective: To develop a tool for simplified finite element analysis (FEA) of rigging and lifting, while ensuring that safety measures remain. The analysis will be ver- ified by using strain gauges on lifts of com- plex blocks. Additionally, the project will evaluate the use of integrated lifting lugs in place of temporary pad-eyes. $756,000

Large Scale Computer Simulation

Modeling System Enhancements

Project Lead: NASSCO

Objective: To expand upon the current

Large Scale Modeling and Simulation project, which focuses on scheduled pro- duction workload modeling within simu- lated facilities subject to their constraints, with the intention of identifying production bottlenecks and enabling the user to iden- tify improved production plans. The proj- ect will enhance the system to add the ability to: define and use statistical vari- ances; apply learning algorithms; and de- fine, generate and use parametrically described interim products within the sys- tem. $2m

Project: ERP Integration with CAD

Project Lead: VT Halter Marine

Objective: To automate the exchange of business data contained in the Product In- formation Model (PIM) and Enterprise Re- source Planning (ERP) material management/procurement application by creating a non-shipyard specific tool that can be implemented throughout the indus- try. $1.4m

Process Oriented Visual Planning Tool (POV Planner)

Project Lead: Todd Pacific Shipyards

Objective: To develop a user-friendly pro- duction planning tool that incorporates data from three commercial software tools: a

Product Modeler (ShipConstructor), a

Product Visualization Tool (NavisWorks) and a Work Simulation Tool (WorkSim).

The POV Planner will consist of a com- plete set of standard shipbuilding process templates and a suite of tools. $868,000

Project: Integrated Logistics

Environment (ILE)

Project Lead: GD Electric Boat

Team Members: NG Shipbuilding-Gulf

Coast, Product Data Services Corp.

Objective: To continue the efforts of the In- tegrated Shipbuilding Environment (ISE) series of projects by facilitating data ex- change and interoperability throughout the entire life cycle of the ship. In particular, the Ship Common Information Model (SCIM), will be completed and the Ship

Common Information Model Evaluation will demonstrate the effectiveness of the

Navy Product Data Initiative (NPDI) by migrating the Virginia Class product model data to a Joint Team environment, focusing on piping and structural models. $2.4m

Advanced Systems Development of the

Remote Climbing Robot

Project Lead: Robotic Technologies of

Tennessee; Team Members: NG Ship- building-Gulf Coast, Bath Iron Works,

Tennessee Technological University

Objective: To develop enhancements to the current mobile robot which will increase the number of weld types, broaden the spectrum of applications and provide for remote operation. The three-phase project includes actuation and instrumentation to enable remote operation; 'close-the-loop' enhancement to provide adaptive motion control to follow geometric features of the weld seam; and efficiency gains in the welding process by offloading repetitive control tasks and allowing the operator to focus on bead setup and quality monitor- ing. $396,000

National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP)

Eight New Shipbuilding R&D Projects