Computer Aided Engineering and Shock Analysis for the Foundation of a Modularized Vertical Launching System

The major objective of this paper is to describe a computer aided methodology for structural integration and analysis. Using the example of recent work in the installation of modular gun and vertical launch missile systems in warships, the reader is guided through a typical case of computer aided structural design and shock analysis, how the models are defined and tested, how the models are modified in order to be compatible with computer capacity, how structural elements are selected to simplify computations, and finally how the results of these operations are used to define the final product before construction and installation. With the maturation of the computer aided process as applied to the whole ship product, more attention must be focused on improving the individual elements of computer aided design (CAD), computer aided engineering (CAE) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and the integration of these processes and their products through computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). The application of the CAE techniques described herein to large maritime systems such as combatant, auxiliary and support, and commercial ships and to other large structures such as semisubmersible and fixed platforms is powerful and highly in demand. There is now a means to optimize large structural systems in terms of their discrete subsystems and components and harmonize the entire design while providing the proper design integrity at each successive level of detail.