Laminate optimisation for Fassmer’s hybrid boat

The task

The Fassmer ship­yard in northern Germany commis­sioned us to reduce the struc­tural weight of a hybrid boat that can be used either as a tender or as a lifeboat. The aim was to achieve simpler and more cost-effec­tive produc­tion and save resources while main­taining the same quality, i.e. constant strength and stiff­ness.

In addi­tion, certi­fi­ca­tion and produc­tion docu­ments were to be prepared and submitted to the ship­yard.

The chal­lenges and solu­tions in detail

• Severe limi­ta­tions in the design of the struc­ture due to the given boundary condi­tions in connec­tion with the manu­fac­turing process.
• The given geom­etry could not be altered at will due to various spec­i­fi­ca­tions and regu­la­tions.
• Due to the direct impact on human life in emer­gency situ­a­tions, strict require­ments applied to the struc­tural integrity of the boat.
• Consid­er­a­tion of the increased complexity due to a new type of movable roof struc­ture.
• High demands in partic­ular on the imple­men­ta­tion of opti­mi­sa­tion in order to obtain a solu­tion that is readily manu­fac­turable.
• The struc­tural weight was to be minimised in order to save building time and costs. The stiff­ness and strength of the boat were used as design para­me­ters to verify the quality of the results.

Our know-how

The following compe­tences at ar engi­neers led to success in this project:

• High exper­tise in the design and real­i­sa­tion of small fibre-composite boats.
• Very good under­standing of fibre-composite mate­rials in boat and ship building.
• Expe­ri­enced eye on the feasi­bility of the compo­nents despite complex lami­nate layups.
• Exten­sive know-how for numer­ical opti­mi­sa­tion with Ansys.
• Devel­op­ment and use of auto­mated simu­la­tion and result eval­u­a­tion in order to be able to react quickly to changing require­ments from the customer.
• Our direct and frequent consul­ta­tions with the customer enabled the project to run smoothly.

Our way

Our expe­ri­ence in handling complex projects coupled with our light­weight design exper­tise and knowl­edge of auto­mated numer­ical opti­mi­sa­tion helped us to meet our client’s require­ments in the best possible way while meeting tight time­lines and budgets.