With ANSYS software, Meyer Werft regularly eliminates perceived boundaries in everything from shipbuilding methods to comfort to the marine insurance bureaucracy. For example, analysis has helped Meyer Werft cut costs and save time by using lightweight, laser-welded honeycomb structures instead of steel plates for decks. Analysis also helped redesign welds to minimize shrinkage. Even 0.1 percent shrinkage causes fit-up problems in ships 800 feet long.
Creating floating palaces requires designing large public areas, extra windows, doors, and even balconies to give these sleek vessels a cheerful, airy openness. But openness means that bulkheads may be cut through, relocated, or removed entirely. This profoundly affects the ways in which the ship's structural integrity is assured. Without powerful and flexible analysis tools, this can give naval architects migraines.
One of Meyer Werft's biggest analysis challenges is last-minute changes from shipowners. According to Dr. Dieter Gritl, Meyer Werft's naval architect, "Any significant change in a ship's steel structure must be verified by extensive new calculations. When the steel design work is nearing completion, this must be done in a hurry. Due to our new independence with ANSYS, we are able to react much quicker."
But those changes are evolutionary. The most dramatic change is bringing analysis in-house to avoid months-long delays in fast-track programs. Delays occur in the marine insurance industry's classification societies. These societies rule on the suitability of every ship's design and its seaworthiness. With ANSYS, Dr. Gritl's team now can assess seaworthiness -- rolling, hogging and sagging -- in a matter of hours. "With ANSYS, we carry out all necessary calculations in the yard ourselves," Dr. Gritl added.
