Improving the

submarine design
process one tool
at a time

Submarines are one of the most complex engineering platforms. They

require the integration of equipment, systems, working and living areas
in a confined space, and assurance of safe and optimal performance
underwater. To improve and simplify the submarine design process,
Nevesbu has recently developed two work packages: SUBmarine
Supporting Design Tool, or ‘SUBSIDE’ and the Volumetric Estimation Tool.

34 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2015

Maritime

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SUBSIDE

Due to the great complexity of modern submarines, the

process of selecting a design philosophy requires iterative
developments and comparison of multiple design strategies
to assess technical and performance characteristics, cost
implications and risks. To break down this process, Nevesbu
has designed a tool which has been incorporated into the
naval architectural software package (NAPA), developed
by Napa Group. This tool assesses the performance of
submarines in the early stages of the concept design as well
as in the later stages of the design process.

Naval architectural aspects of submarine design

The Submarine Supporting Design Tool is used for modelling
submarines, balancing and evaluating their stability.
Although the tool was able to make use of existing widgets
within the NAPA software, not all of them seemed to work
properly. Some of the main capabilities developed within
the tool include modelling of the pressure hull, parametric
modelling of the outer hull (including appendages), main
internal structure for tankage, bulkheads and main decks,
contribution to buoyancy, weight distribution and balance,
size and location of typical tanks in submarines like MBT
(Main Ballast Tanks) and Trim and Compensation Tanks,
hydrostatics, transition analysis, stability check, operational
conditions checked, and equilibrium polygon. Another challenge was to create and program a customised
interface within the software for inputting submarine-
Challenges specific data and outputting relevant results. The idea to
To naval architects, the hydrostatic properties of floating put together a customised interface was to provide a more
vessels represent the groundwork, whereas the properties work-friendly environment, NAPA being a command-based
of fully submerged submarines might be less familiar. software. This interface facilitates effortless input and output
Nevertheless, some parallels were identified. of the data.
One of the main challenges during development was
to adapt the existing capabilities of the software so that A valuable and efficient tool
submarine-specific tasks could be assessed. NAPA is a It is well-known that submarine design is a complex and time
software created to manage mainly surface vessels. This consuming task, as public documentation is still not widely
means that some important parameters used during the available. The SUBSIDE tool has proved to be a valuable and
design process might fail when the object of study becomes efficient supporting tool, capable of performing detailed
a submarine. There were situations when the software hydrostatic analysis for submarines. In a structured manner,
stopped the calculation and indicated warnings such as ‘’ship using specific input parameters, it is possible to create a
is sinking’’. This was the moment when it became clear that 3D model of a submarine, while defining the pressure hull
developing the SUBSIDE tool would require “out-of-the-box and all the appendages in a relativley short period of time.
thinking’’. Subsequently, it was determined that treating the Additionally, this tool enables the user to perform all checks
submarine as a geometrical object, essentially ‘’tricking’’ the and calculations with regards to the balance between weight
software, enabled the necessary parameters to once again and volume, as well as carrying out the necessary stability
perform the calculations and switch the vessel status to studies for a stable submarine.
‘‘submerged vessel’’.

36 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2015


The key in creating such a feasible submarine design tool,
within a software specialised in surface vessels, was mainly
treating the submarine within NAPA as a geometric object/
volumetric unit and customising input/output based on the
user’s needs.
The SUBSIDE tool is the first working NAPA prototype and
is still considered under development. Further studies
and improvements in the overall process analysis are
recommended but not yet widely invested in.
Picture above: Nevesbu's Ana Maria Tocu (Naval Architect)
presents SUBSIDE tool at the NAPA user's meeting.
Maritime
A fruitful
collaboration
Nevesbu was looking for a practical tool geared
towards incorporating the naval architectural
aspects of submarine design. The existing design
software known as NAPA seemed to be the
proper solution for developing such a specific
tool. In April 2014, once it was decided to create
a sketch design for the Walrus Class replacement,
Nevesbu tested NAPA’s reliability using an
existing submarine design. One year later, work
commenced on developing the supporting
tool, known as SUBSIDE Manager. This was all
achievable thanks to the successful collaboration
between Nevesbu and NAPA.
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Volumetric
Estimation Tool
A state of neutral bouyancy is a key design requirement
for a submarine. To determine whether a submarine
has achieved this state of buoyancy, accurate weight
and displacement estimations are essential. Therefore,
establishing a possible starting point for displacement
and principal dimensions is an imperative step to take in
the early stages of submarine design.
Navigating the challenges
"There are a few challenges involved when using the
early design stage estimation method. First is that there
can be a lack of detailed information available in regards
to the desired final design which, as a result, limits the
amount of data available for input. Additionally, very little
reliable data is available for reference vessels which also
limits the amount of usable data; data which would help
make assumptions to fill in the gaps caused by the limited
input. Traditionally these gaps are filled by a designer’s
knowledge. However this influence can potentially have
a negative consequence. When the final result of the
estimation method differs significantly from the achieved
result of the final design, it becomes nearly impossible
to determine what caused the deviation. To overcome
these challenges using a single estimation method, the
fundamental differences between volume estimation and
principal dimension estimation must be identified. This
requires using separate estimation procedures for volume
and principal dimension estimation which will later be
harmonised in order to produce one, consistent solution.
38 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2015
Route to the solution
When it comes to volume estimation, the main challenge is
the lack of reference data available. Much of the information
that is available to the public is unreliable. However, if the
data is all falsified in the same manner, it is possible to
distinguish a trend in the data which can be considered valid
despite the inaccuracy of the reference data itself. This is
done using the Theil-Sen regression method.
A trend line can be created by calibrating the trend found by
using this method to the value of a known submarine design.
The advantage of using this method is that it becomes
possible to give the obtained values meaning, as the implicit
design choices of the calibration design are known.
The estimation of principal dimensions requires a different
approach. Principal dimensions are determined by the
dimensions of critical objects inside the pressure hull. It
is done in this way because the geometric requirements
cannot be directly scaled due to the internal arrangement.
When comparing different submarine designs, a
pattern of common critical items can be distinguished.
By parameterising the dimensions of the critical item,
the minimum required local pressure hull diameter can
be determined. This is where the volume estimation is
integrated into the geometric estimation.
Source: AudioVisuele Dienst Defensie (AVDD)
 Maritime

Moving forward For example, input parameters can be added or removed

The first version of the tool has recently been tested and
validated. The tool is capable of achieving decent accuracy
and providing the designer with in-depth information on the
estimated values. It has proven itself a useful tool for defining
a viable starting point for the displacement and principal
dimensions of a future design. Improvements to the tool are,
of course, possible. Room for improvements lies mostly in the
volume estimation procedure.
depending on whether the information to be inputted
is available in the early design stages. Some targets for
potential future development include dedicated deployment
spaces for Special Forces and the stowage of UUVs and AUVs.
Ana Maria Tocu
Lead Naval Architect, Nevesbu

As the tool is used more often, the structure of the tool will Marijn Hage
be adapted to suit the process in which it will be used. Naval Architect, Nevesbu

Sample critical point set for diesel generators

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