OPINION | Leveraging the latest tech in warship design

Warship design is often considered the most complex engineering challenge on Earth—arguably even more complex than building spaceships.

Its complexity can be very well understood from the analogy drawn from the newly built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant of the Indian Navy, where power installed onboard can serve the entire town of Kochi, the distance between Kashmir and Kanyakumari can be measured with the electric cabling fitted onboard, and the piping installed for various systems can cover half the southern states of India.

The complexity increases when the ship is required to be integrated with delicate sensors and deadly weapons and needs to perform her task traversing through wave height equivalent to a 2-story building, ensuring comfort and safety of personnel.

Therefore, warship design demands the amalgamation of science, which shall ensure Float (adequate stability and floating capability even after taking a hit from enemy), Move (adequate speed to reach the mission area on short notice), Fight (precise striking capability in roaring seas), and Art (ergonomically designed working spaces and accommodation areas to boost morale of crew in hardship conditions and long voyages). The science behind satisfactory performance of envisaged mission capabilities can be ensured during concept design and basic design of the ship by performing various design calculations, numerical analysis, physical model test, wind tunnel test, etc.

However, ergonomics of compartment layout needs to be addressed during detailed design of the ship, which requires intelligent spatial visualisation.

Transition in detailed design process

Before the advent of 3D CAD software, shipyards relied on massive physical layouts developed in 2D drafting rooms, physical scale models, and large-scale industrial floor drawings to develop detailed design.

To translate the design into construction, three distinct views at a set scale: plans (top view), elevations (side view), and cross-sections (front/back view) were drawn.

To identify the clashes, the overlay trick was used, in which separate layers of structural steel frames, ventilation trunks and major piping headers traced on semi-transparent vellum paper or linen cloths were stacked over a backlit glass table where designers manually looked down through the drawings to spot geometric interference ("clashes").

Despite due diligence and years of experience of the draftsman, every twist and turn in tight machinery spaces could not be accurately predicted, and the shipyard used thick, bendable lead or copper wire directly onto the partially built ship hull to find the safest path by manually bending around structural columns and machinery items. These templates were used as a physical bending guide for the real steel or copper pipe.

With the development of 3D CAD software, the hardships and inaccuracies have been suitably addressed by replacing expensive physical mock-ups/ scale models with a true 1:1-scale digital model.

This enabled designers to define optimised routings of piping, cabling and other outfitting items, avoiding overlapping by performing clash checks at the design stage, which has increased the overall efficiency and reduced material wastage.

It also improved the arrangement of complex systems and equipment and provided flexibility for multiple iterations and validation of design in a quicker time without creating any physical modelling. This has led to overall shortening of the project timeline and cost by minimising material wastage.

The advent of AR/VR

Virtual reality (VR) transformed the maritime industry by enabling naval architects and engineers to validate spatial layouts, spot design flaws, and test ergonomics in real-time.

The VR facility accelerated decision-making by providing real-time appreciation of space and facilitating better collaboration between various stakeholders, including the owner.

VR not only boosted efficiency in the design process but also made a positive impact on ship construction and the review process. Since all the equipment and systems can be modelled and visualised in a 3D environment, time-consuming activities such as “line out inspections” have been eliminated from the ship building process.

Due to immersive and real-time environments in the era of VR, now unskilled workers can also appreciate the job to be undertaken and, in turn, reduce errors and expensive rework.

GRSE’s digital transformation journey

GRSE has always been the frontrunner in adopting new technology and leveraging its benefits in the ship design and construction process. With humble beginnings in the late 20th century by transitioning from manual drafting to 2D computer-based design, the vision of becoming a fully computer-savvy design house was successfully achieved with the advent of the 21st century.

With a progressive mindset and zeal for adopting new technology for enhancing efficiency and increasing stakeholders’ collaboration, a Virtual Reality lab was set up in GRSE in 2018, which was further augmented with advanced technology and converted into a next-generation virtual reality lab in 2026.

Digital transformation at GRSE has also been extended beyond design into Quality Assurance by developing AI-enabled NDT software “iweld” for weld quality inspection and implementing paperless quality inspection with the common aim to improve efficiency and eliminate human error/ subjectivity.

By integrating Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins, advanced simulation, VR, automation, and Industry 4.0 technologies with GRSE's decades of shipbuilding expertise, GRSE is committed to creating a faster, smarter, and more efficient shipbuilding ecosystem and transforming into a totally indigenous digital shipyard.

The author is senior manager at the central design office of GRSE, leading the Forward Design Group.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.