ICCAS 2011, 20 - 22 September 2011, Trieste, Italy

EFFICIENT DESIGN OF OUTFITTING & MACHINERY SPACES

R. de Góngora, SENER, Ingenieria y Sistemas S.A., Spain

SUMMARY

This paper is devoted to analyse current FORAN system outfitting & machinery spaces design tools, reviewing how
main drivers match features, and what is the solution provided for each case. At the same time, it describes the aspects in
which FORAN can be further improved and the way to achieve it.

NOMENCLATURE these zones where the majority of all outfitting

components is located and where particularities of
CAD: Computer aided design outfitting design are most visible.
CAM: Computer aided manufacturing
ERP: Enterprise resource planning 2. OUTFITTING DESIGN AS PART OF
MRP: Materials resource planning OVERALL DESIGN
PLM: Product lifecycle management
HVAC: Heat, ventilation and air conditioning 2.1 DESIGN PROCESS
P&ID: Pipe and instrumentation diagram
NC: Numeric control Current tendency in shipbuilding for reducing costs and
VR: Virtual reality improving delivery times, based on the pre-outfitting of
blocks and section to the highest possible level, make
1. INTRODUCTION compulsory that outfitting design must be fully
coordinated with the rest of the design. All aspects of the
The great competiveness in shipbuilding produced design become small pieces of the puzzle called vessel,
several decades ago the first change in the design of and the fail in one of them could produce the fail in other
outfitting and machinery spaces, making the pre- ones. Moreover, as the earlier stages the fails occur in,
outfitting of blocks and interim products one of its main the more serious consequences they produce, it is
drivers. essential to have a complete control of the design.

In most recent times, as a result of harder competiveness, This control is even more necessary for outfitting design
new circumstances have obliged designers of outfitting as a result of the modifications that appear during all the
and machinery spaces to improve their working stages. Changes consequence of class society comments,
procedures, tools, organisation and scope of supply. Thus, shipowner requirements, availability of equipment,
material savings, reduction of delivery times, energetic production subcontracting, feedback from previous
optimisation, environmental protection, automated projects, ... are so common that oblige outfitting design
fabrication and collaborative and remote engineering are to be very efficient in order to comply with estimated
nowadays, among others, the main drivers with which cost and delivery time.
the overall design should be performed.
2.2 DESIGN COST
CAD/CAM systems, born with the single task of making
easier and more efficient the design and production of Although it varies a lot depending on the type of ship, it
ships, have been forced not only to provide solutions to is possible to say that, as an average, 50% of the total
already established requirements, but also to foresee new design cost is related to outfitting tasks (piping,
tendencies and fields for further improvements. equipment, HVAC ducts, auxiliary structures, ...), 40% is
related to hull structure, and the remaining 10% to
Aspects as embedded calculation tools, flexible data electrical. With this into account, and assuming a 7-10%
exchange, integration diagrams/3D, rule design, of the total price of the ship belonging to design, it
advanced and automatic pipe routing, seamless results that the cost outfitting design is a 3-5% of the
integration with hull structure and electrical, efficient total cost of the ship.
outputs generation, link with production machines,
modularisation of units, links with ERP, MRP and PLM But not only this. An efficient outfitting design means
systems and virtual reality are features that CAD/CAM also a good project, and this has direct impact in the cost
systems should cover for allowing an efficient design of of the overall construction. Considering that from the
outfitting & machinery spaces. total cost of the construction 40% is related to outfitting
tasks, we have that the decisions taken during the
Although in fact the considerations included in this paper outfitting design phase have consequences in more than
apply to outfitting design in all zones of the vessel, 35% of the total cost of the ship.
special emphasis is made to machinery spaces, as it is in

© 2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects

So, an efficient outfitting design is an opportunity to to approval by Classification Society. Although the
dramatically reduce costs and improve productivity. creation of these diagrams could be done in a pure 2D
Let´s see how can be achieved this efficient outfitting drawing environment (classification societies still require
design. paper copies), it is very convenient to use a tool that
allows the early definition of all technological data for
3. EVOLUTION OF OUTFITTING DESIGN pipes, equipment and fittings. In such a way, this
TOOLS information would be available when starting the
positioning of equipment and the routing of pipes in the
Traditionally, the majority of marine CAD/CAM systems 3D model, thus producing a considerable saving in time.
have been mainly focused in hull forms definition, naval But not only this: it guarantees that all data is consistent
architecture calculations and structural design, letting and that at any moment both environments (P&ID and
industry oriented CAD/CAM systems to provide suitable 3D model) are in fully correspondence, thus allowing the
solutions for outfitting design. efficient and quick propagation of changes.

This general opinion was crumbled when new challenges

in shipbuilding, demanding closer interrelations between
hull structure and outfitting design, obliged marine
suppliers to devote special attention to this latter. As a
consequence, some marine CAD/CAM systems (as
FORAN) started the development of particular outfitting
tools, while others limited their reaction to try to find a
closer integration with the existing plant design oriented
systems.

Our consideration for developing a particular outfitting

design tool in FORAN was based on the fact that the
actual requirements for outfitting design are not limited
to a close integration with the structural design. Problems
to be solved, regulations, working procedures,
nomenclature, production information, etc... are so
particular of ship design that it is convenient to have a
dedicated tool better than try to adapt an existing one.

As time goes by, outfitting tools have been increasing Figure 1: Outfitting data of a 25.000 DWT chemical
their scope of supply, trying to cover all aspects of tanker engine room
outfitting design. As a consequence of this, nowadays
outfitting tools use to include (FORAN includes) Fittings and equipment included in P&ID´s and defined
particular environments for equipment modelling and with electric connections should have also the possibility
layout, piping and HVAC ducts routing, definition of to reference electrical diagrams, thus providing also
auxiliary structures (foundations, gratings, ladders, ...), seamless integration between electric and outfitting
and definition of distributors supports and hangers. In design.
some cases also electrical and accommodation aspects
are considered as outfitting tools. This integration P&ID – 3D model should be available in
both directions, thus facilitating the creation of as-built
Particularities of outfitting design require to work in a P&ID´s with actual information coming from the 3D
pure 3D environment and with an amicable and suitable model and building decisions.
user interface, but new developments in outfitting tools
have been always handicapped by the available 4.2 EQUIPMENT LAY OUT
technology (hardware, graphic possibilities,...).
Nowadays it is commonly assumed that outfitting tools In parallel with the definition of P&ID´s, O&MSD
should be able to work, at least, in solid visualization begins with the lay out of equipment models. CAD/CAM
method, with huge amount of information on the scene system must provide suitable tools to perform this task in
and with a dynamic handling of it (fig. 1) a flexible and rapid way, being convenient to comply
with three different requirements:
4. NEEDS AND SOLUTIONS
 It must allow working with preliminary equipment
4.1 INTEGRATION P&ID – 3D MODEL information (almost “reservation space boxes”) that
can be refined or changed once more detailed
One of the first stages in the O&MSD is the creation of information about equipment is available.
P&ID´s of all ship systems, being most of them subject  Equipment lay out must be topological, it means,
referred to other existing elements, thus allowing
ICCAS 2011, 20 - 22 September 2011, Trieste, Italy

automatic updates after modifications in decks hull include in the CAD/CAM system suitable and advanced
forms,... tools that facilitate the fast creation of the 3D model and
 Equipment models must provide the possibility to add its easy modification. This is especially important if we
data about dismantling spaces and maintenance routes, take into account that detail outfitting design is full of
so from the early stages it could be possible to check repetitive tasks in which automation and dedicated tools
eventual interferences are of high importance to save design man hours.

In order to speed up the process, it must be possible to These advanced tools refer both to CAD/CAM general
perform this equipment lay out having as a background aspects consequence of technological improvements, and
not only the existing structure of the ship (up to the level to dedicated solutions aimed to solve particular
it is completed), but also the moulded lines and surfaces shipdesign aspects.
of hull forms, decks and bulkheads.
Among others, we can mention:
4.3 ON-LINE INTERFERENCE DETECTION
 Use of macro commands for repetitive tasks and
The generation of 100% valid production information particular solutions
requires an interference-free design, being therefore  Use of parametric elements that can be easily and
necessary to have the possibility to detect interferences quickly adapted to particular conditions
between all the elements of the 3D model. It is not  Management of dismantling, maintenance and other
enough to make this interference detection once the reservation spaces for any element of the 3D model
design is completed, but to perform it on-line just as any  Importing of equipment data from third party
element is added or modified in the 3D model. Even software (formats DXF3D, IGES, STEP, STL, ...)
more, this detection must be done taking into account not  Definition and management of outfitting modules for
only elements visible, but any element stored in the re-use in the same project or in other projects (fig. 3)
database, including those as insulations, operating spaces,  Topological relationship between elements of the 3D
escape routes,.... The system must provide tools to model, facilitating propagation of changes
classify the detected interferences (soft or hard), to  Easy reconstructions of data after modifications,
eventually approve them, and to generate detailed reports. avoiding manual operations
And on top of that, suitable tools must be available for
 Advanced solid mode for routing and edition of lines
solving interferences detected also in an on-line regime
(pipes, HVAC ducts and cable trays)
(fig. 2).
 Technologic compatibility, checking of connections
between elements (lines, fittings, equipment)
 Smart definition of supports, hangers and auxiliary
structures, based on standard solutions and
automatically adapted to particular conditions
 Zoning and automatic assignment of elements to
geographic zones
 Management of holes and penetrations with
embedded approval procedure
 Use of advanced auxiliary geometry options for
definition of points, directions, intersections, ...
 Use of advanced visualization options as shading
view, transparencies, clipping planes, representation
levels, ,...

Figure 2: Report on interference, automatically

produced as a result of the on-line interference detection
option.

Of course, interference detection algorithms must be

optimised in order to do not affect the performance and
response time of the system due to the on-line calculation
process.

4.4 ADVANCED MODELLING

The most time-consuming part of the outfitting design is

the creation of the 3D model including all information
for fabrication and assembly. Therefore, it is essential to Figure 3: Forward auxiliary module of submarine S-80

© 2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects

 easier the development of a link between them and the
The main goal is to build a collision-free 3D model CAD/CAM system. For those links, data transference
within the shortest time, and to have the corresponding format should follow international standards, although
data available for drawing generation and for further re- the particularities of each calculation tool obliges in
use in the same project or in other project. many cases to work with ad-hoc created interfaces.

4.5 CONCURRENT ENGINEERING Other calculations, with no impact in the definition of the
3D model, as painting surfaces, weights, CoG´s,
Concurrent engineering concept can be understood under insulations take-off, ... are included in the CAD/CAM
two different aspects: simultaneous design work for system base on the own data of the 3D model.
different specialities (hull structure, pipe routing,
definition of supports,...), and design work by different 4.7 PRODUCTION INFORMATION
agents remotely located, being a common practise that
these two aspects happen at the same time and in the During the design process, when creating the 3D model,
same project. it is necessary to have into consideration the further
fabrication and asseembly phases, adapting the design to
The traditional approach of outfitting design starting the actual production methods and devices of the
once the hull structure design is finished, or at least well shipyard.
advanced, is not longer valid. The market demands for
shortening delivery times oblige outfitting designers to Must be considered, among others:
start their job only with a slight delay from hull structure
design, or even at the same time. This means that all  Maximum length for pipes considering the straight
information regarding 3D model should be available and pipes supplied to the shipyard
accessible just once it is stored in the database. At the  Handling of fixed angles for elbows, for optimization
same time, outfitting designers must organise their job, of materials
allowing the concurrent participation of other designers.  Bending machines and restrictions for bending of
Organization by means of zones, systems and pipes (clamping, collisions, allowable nominal
combination of both is a common solution for this. diameters, ...) (fig. 4)
 Size of galvanizing and other treatments pots for
Nowadays, the availability of technological innovations pipes
in telecommunications and data transference allows the  Availability of automatic flange welding machine
participation in a single project of remotely located  Gross plates used for development of HVAC ducts
designers. Among the different options available for this,
 Standard plates and profiles used in Auxiliary
the most common options are the database replication
Structures
and the remote access to a single database. Both of them
 Use of standard support and hangers
have already demonstrated their usefulness, and the
selection of one or the other depends much more on
communication lines and hardware available in each site.

One key aspect in concurrent engineering is an effective

coordination between sites, users, specialities,... In this
sense, it is very convenient the use of an access and
modification control tool, embedded in the CAD/CAM
system, thus guaranteeing that no conflicts would appear.
The level of application of this control remains at user
criteria.

4.6 CALCULATIONS

Calculations are common in outfitting design during all

its stages, and refer to many different aspects: pressure
drops, dimensioning of pipes and ducts, flow analysis,
heat balance, pipe stress, foundations strength, ... are
typical cases of these calculations. The best option is to Figure 4: Automatic bending checking when routing
have the corresponding calculation tools embedded in the pipes in FORAN System
CAD/CAM system, not only because data from 3D
model are normally the input for the calculations, but Additionally, it is necessary to complete the production
also because in some cases the results of the calculations oriented design assigning outfitting elements to interim
can re-feed 3D model data. However, the availability in products, reproducing the actual build strategy according
most of the cases of dedicated calculation tools makes
ICCAS 2011, 20 - 22 September 2011, Trieste, Italy

to which the ship would be built and allowing the pre- 4.9 VIRTUAL REALITY
outfitting of blocks and sections.
VR tools are currently not only separated tools for
But it is not enough the creation of a 3D model having checking an existing design, but actual design tools
into consideration those aspects: it is necessary that all completely imbricated in the design and production
production and assembly information is generated in the processes. With their use, all agents involved in the
most automatic way and avoiding manual operations. construction of a ship can take decisions that affect the
Moreover, due to the common modifications that appear design itself, and at the same time check if previous
during the design process, the system must maintain an decisions are in correspondence with previously stated
automatic control of the production information and the requirements (fig. 5).
3D model, providing warnings when the changes affect
already generated production information. Options included in VR tools are, among others:

CAD/CAM system must provide NC data for feeding  Interactive navigation through the 3D model with
machines and devices of the shipyard as bending different navigation modes
machines, welding machines, ... thus being necessary to  Handling of very large 3D models
customise formats in order to match every shipyard own  Selection of objects or group of objects (according to
machines. build strategy) and display of technological and
graphical attributes
4.8 LINK WITH THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE  Marking-up of objects and addition of commentaries
for further navigations or modifications in the 3D
CAD/CAM system must handle of the information model;
necessary for creating a collision-free design and for  Calculation of ship coordinates, distances, angles,
generating all production and assembly information, but clearances between objects, ...
not only this. This 3D model information is at the same  Illumination of 3D model according to actual
time necessary for other activities and other departments luminance on board
involved in the construction of the ship, as planning,  Assignment of textures, colours and transparencies to
purchasing, subcontracting, accounting,... With this in
objects
consideration, it should be possible to export 3D model
 Collisions checking
information to other systems as ERP, MRP, PLM and
 Deletion and invisibility of objects or group of
others.
objects
Even restricted to design tasks, it is very common that  Movement of objects and group of objects (linear and
several design agents collaborate in the same project, so rotations)
it is necessary that 3D model information should be  Handling of human models and checking of
shared between them, to serve as reference. The ergonomics
paradigm of this problem appears in case two or more  Simulations of escape routes and dismantling routes
design agents collaborating in the same project use of equipment
different CAD/CAM tools. In such a case the CAD/CAM  Simulation of fire & smoke conditions
systems shall provide data exchange between them  Creation, storing and reproduction of trajectories
(heterogeneous design in context) leading to different  Generation of video files
degrees of integration like visualization, spatial
integration and cross manufacturing, depending on the
characteristics and amount of 3D model information to
transfer. At least, it should be geometry and key
attributes.

Formats for transference of data are not fixed, and

despite the existence of recognised international
standards, in most of the cases the most extended practise
is to have dedicated formats, or particular adaptations
from standard ones.

Transference of 3D model information could produce

loss of performance due to different geometrical
approaches to represent elements in both CAD/CAM
systems. In this case, special solutions must be adopted
in order to minimise this impact.
Figure 5: Navigation through outfitting 3D model of an
AHTS vessel

© 2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects

Additionally, modern technologies allow the use of VR allow checking completed designs before production
tools with stereoscopy and tracking options, and their information is generated.
adaptation to complex environments for total immersion,
with six-plane projection and use of helmet, gloves and As each shipyard has its own solutions and criteria, rules
other advanced VR devices. to be fulfilled and their parameters should be
programmed by the user and eventually modified
4.10 RE-USE OF INFORMATION according to particular circumstances.

In shipbuilding, normally only few units of a particular 5.2 AUTOMATIC ROUTING

project are actually constructed (very common even only
one), and due to this shipyards and design agents try to One of the most time-consuming tasks in outfitting
re-use as maximum as possible from previous projects. design is the routing of pipes, HVAC ducts and cable
trays. In order to minimise this time, but without
In the case of outfitting, it is a traditional practise to re- reducing the robustness of the design, automatic routing
use data regarding standards, materials, specifications, options are the best solution (fig. 6).
equipment models, ... and the CAD/CAM system has
enough tools for achieving this. But in some occasions
complete or partial outfitting designs are valid to be used
in further projects, and the CAD/CAM system should
have suitable tools for performing it. Data must be
transferred by system, by zone, by module, by skid and
even by interim product, at user decision, including
attributes, geometry and layout. Transferred data could
be handled in the new project as any other data defined
directly on it, capable of modifications and updates.

Current tendency of modularisation of outfitting design

and build makes more useful the re-use of data, not only
from a single previous project, but from several ones.
Figure 6: Cargo heating coils of an oil tanker barge
5. ... AND BEYOND
designed with automatic routing tools
5.1 RULE-BASED DESIGN
These automatic routing options should provide simple
solutions, with minimum lengths and optimisation of
Rule-based design intends to help designers to adopt
material, something that is not difficult and several
solutions that have been previously tested and are of
algorithms already cover (Lee, Dijkstra, ...). But the
common practise in the shipyard. With this, the
matter is not only to consider existing elements for future
possibilities of a mistake by the designer are dramatically
routings; it is also necessary to assign priorities, and
reduced, thus making the design consistent and robust
eventually provoke modifications of existing elements as
but without increasing the time need to complete it. In
a consequence of new ones. The complexity of the
the case of outfitting this does not refer only to fulfilment
problem means that there is not yet a suitable solution for
of regulations of Class Societies or other regulatory body
the automatic routing, and the solutions provided by
(as it is the case mainly of hull structure), but to
CAD/CAM systems can be understood only as partial
fulfilment of rules in the widest sense of the concept.
ones, at least for ship design.
These rules are closely related to production
6. CONCLUSIONS
particularities of each shipyard, and cover different
aspects as:
Outfitting design is one of the most complex aspects of
shipdesign, having great impact in the construction of the
 Typical technical and constructive solutions
ship, and in its overall cost. Due to this, the most
 Lay out and routing restrictions according to efficient the outfitting design is, the biggest savings will
regulations or calculations be obtained.
 Automatic assignment of attributes
 Material optimization SENER, in its double role as shipdesign and software
 Compatibility of elements development company, has embedded into FORAN all
 Solving of conflicts the experience accumulated during more than 50 years,
converting FORAN System in a suitable tool for solving
For obtaining as much benefit as possible, rule-based outfitting design needs, and allowing outfitting design
design options should work in an on-line regime, agents to improve their efficiency and reduce costs and
although it is also convenient to have batch tools that delivery times.
ICCAS 2011, 20 - 22 September 2011, Trieste, Italy

At the same time, FORAN continues to be improved,

providing solutions to new trends and challenges of
outfitting design.

7. REFERENCES

1. AXEL FRIEDEWALD, Virtual reality as an efficient

planning tool for outfitting processes, European
conference on production technologies in shipbuilding;
outfitting in ship production, 2010.

2. RAFAEL DE GÓNGORA. An innovative integrated

tool for HVAC design, International conference on
computer applications in shipbuilding, 2007.

3. ANDI ASMARA et al., Automatic piping system in

ship, Computer and IT Applications in the Maritime
Industries, 2006.

4. PEDRO GÓMEZ et al., Enabling a 3D model,

Advanced Shipbuilding and Shipping - Competitive Ship
Production , 2002.

5. SANG-SEOB KANG et al., A design expert system

for auto-routing of ship pipes, Journal of Ship
Production, 1999.

6. ANDRÉS MOLINA et al., Using outfitting units

building method in a shipyard, International conference
on computer applications in shipbuilding, 1999.

8. AUTHORS’ BIOGRAPHIES

Rafael de Góngora holds the current position of

FORAN Product Manager at SENER. He is responsible
for the new developments of FORAN System. In the past,
he worked in the ship design office of SENER as design
engineer (especially in outfitting), and project engineer.
During some years, he worked also as FORAN sales
manager for East Europe.

© 2011: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects