Rapid prototyping and physical models in teaching ship design

The authors have taken advantage of recent developments in rapid prototyping technologies to introduce physical model making as a component of various taught ship design exercises at UCL. They have developed workflows to minimise the time and effort required to produce these models and observed the practical challenges of integrating these processes into student design projects over the course of three years. This paper presents an overview of the approaches tried, promising technologies and conclusions drawn from their experiences. It ends with a summary of each approach tried; filament printing, selective laser sintering, laminated card and interlocking card models, and their suitability during various stages of the design process.