High-level demonstration of holistic design and optimisation process of Offshore Support Vessel

Abstract

Design of highly complex vessels involves a multitude of disciplines designing different modules and units of the vessel using different tools and methods requiring specialist competence in specific areas. The vessel may have a complex operational profile and multiple key performance indices. Suboptimisation of each module for different KPIs without taking into account the interaction between the modules does not necessarily lead to an optimised overall performance of the vessel. A holistic approach is needed to achieve this. At the early design stage of a vessel, important parameters are defined having a huge impact on the performance of the vessel according to the KPIs. Changing these parameters at a later stage in the design process is difficult and requires a considerable effort from the multidisciplinary design team. This paper introduces a practical approach for holistic design approach at an early stage of the design process of an Offshore Service Vessel.