Set-Based Design Impacts on Naval Ship Upgradability

Set-based design has grown in popularity and status thanks to several successful implementations of the design method within the Navy. The method is now being considered for application during future ship, submarine, unmanned underwater vehicle, and unmanned surface vehicle programs. However, set-based design is still viewed by some circles of the naval design community with uncertainty, negativity, and as being primarily a buzz word. The goal of this paper is to discuss the pros and cons of set-based design in the context of a notional ship design mid-life upgrade case study.

In the case study two design teams set out to design a notional surface combatant given the same set of design requirements; one team using the set-based design method and the other following the traditional point-based design method. The design study also included two mid-design requirement changes to test the robustness of the respective design methods along with an additional mid-life upgrade requirement. This paper will focus on the adaptability of the set-based and point-based designs to accommodating the mid-life upgrade and comment on the advantages of using set-based design principles for naval ship design.