Virtual Prototyping for evaluating new vessel life cycle costs

The simulation allows to support shipbuilding design, in effect its use for evaluating the whole life cycle of new vessels is a very strategic issue able to guarantee a more effective configuration management. This paper concentrates in the development of models devoted to analyze the life cycle of a new carrier and to correlate the expected costs and performances with available figures through a complex identification process. The paper presents the related global architecture with some experimental results obtained in relation to the new aircraft carrier project used for validation.