HULLFORM & HYDRODYNAMIC CONSIDERATIONS IN THE DESIGN OF THE UK FUTURE AIRCRAFT CARRIER (CVF)

The author is to be congratulated in producing a paper for the journal on an important aspect (hydrodynamics) of a design, which was taken to a considerable level of definition before not being proceeded with. The fact that we so rarely get visibility of the thinking and effort behind “abortive” designs – so very little was allowed to be preserved of the cancelled CVA01 of the 1960s – and that this can be compared to the separately evolved, subsequently fully design and, now in 2017, about to go into service QUEEN ELIZABETH (QEC) carrier, makes this a very worthwhile document for the Transactions. Not only can the various detailed conclusions on the hydrodynamically related design choices be read for their input to the BAE Systems alternative to the Thales design, that was finally developed into the QEC (see S Knight’s 2009 RINA Conference paper), the paper also provides general insights into the interaction of one specific topic (hydrodynamics) with wider design developments. This can be instructive to future designers of complex ships – not just aircraft carriers. It could be argued that despite the growing capabilities of CFD tools, that there still appears to be a need for substantial model testing of discrete elements of the hydrodynamic design, as described. Would the author like to comment as to whether he sees this dual need for CFD and physical model testing likely to continue whenever new designs “are just that little bit too different” and how one might judge the latter?

A graph-based computerized optimal conceptual design synthesis within the distributed multi-disciplinary resource environment

The trend of inter-disciplinary conceptual design synthesis requires designers to involve more and more distributed multi-disciplinary design resources. Therefore, this paper proposes a graph-based computerized optimal conceptual design synthesis to help designers explore novel design schemes within the distributed multi-disciplinary resource environment. The design resources tightly related to the design goal can be extracted from the huge resource environment by a proposed searching engine. The optimal design scheme can be generated from these related design resources by a proposed graph-based algorithm. A set of computer applications called Automatic Conceptual Design System (ACDS) is established to verify the feasibility of this proposed conceptual design synthesis, and a garbage power system’s conceptual design is completed by this software prototype.

Mechanical Properties of the Connectors of Steel Frame Embedded and Hung with the Intercalated Multi-Ribbed Composite Wall

The multi-ribbed composite wall (MRCW) structure has the advantage of energy-saving, low weight, and adjustable stiffness. The partition, enclosure, and load-bearing capacity can be realized simultaneously. When the steel frame embedded and hung with the intercalated multi-ribbed composite wall (MRCW), the steel frame columns are avoided to expose in the air, so the durability and heat insulation performance of the structure can be improved. The steel frame is connected with the intercalated multi-ribbed composite wall (MRCW) by wet connection, and the mechanical property and the deformation mode of the multi-ribbed composite wall (MRCW) and steel frame are researched. The mechanical property of stud shear connectors is qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed, which is beneficial to improve the related design methods of structures.

The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Approaching Ageing-Related Design Research and Practice

Despite a rapidly ageing world population, ageism – particularly in its implicit form – is widespread in society. In this article, we propose that a paradigm shift is needed in how we approach ageing-related design research and practice in areas such as assistive technologies. We also put forward the idea of using the Healthy Ageing (HA) framework of the WHO as the basis for new lines actions that can be taken by design researchers and practitioners to address implicit ageism in society through their work.

Knowledge Discovery for Early Failure Assessment of Complex Engineered Systems Using Natural Language Processing

Emerging complex engineered systems may have unexpected safety issues due to novel operational environments, increasing autonomy, human-machine interaction, and other factors. To prevent failures in operation or testing that necessitate costly redesign, it is desirable to predict likely failure modes early in the design process. Information about past engineering failures in natural language format presents one possible solution by enabling the retrieval of information that can inform new designs. However, identifying documents containing usable information and extracting the required information can be prohibitively time-consuming when implemented at scale. In this research, an automated natural language processing (NLP) framework is proposed to discover relevant knowledge from documents containing failure-related design information. The framework is applied to NASA’s Lessons Learned Information System (LLIS), which is publicly available. Documents containing usable information are filtered using two different NLP-based models. Next, from the identified usable documents, a failure taxonomy is extracted using a partitioned hierarchical topic modeling approach. Partitions of the document describe different sections of the failure taxonomy — i.e., failure, cause of failure, and recommendations — as indicated by the structure of the original document. The extracted failure taxonomy can be leveraged in early design failure assessment methods. Moreover, the framework can be used to identify documents containing usable failure-related design information from other databases and extract relevant information from these documents.

Review of acoustically related design factors for three recent Los Angeles area music studios.

The design of a professional-quality music recording studios involves a specific set of challenges, namely the need to provide high levels of sound isolation, rigorous noise and vibration control for building support systems, and the provision of acoustically appropriate room finishes. The optimization of design solutions for each of these challenges depends upon project-specific requirements, including aesthetic objectives, base building constraints and the musical genres being recorded. This paper reviews how these challenges were successfully addressed in three recent Los Angeles area music recording/broadcast studio projects. Projects reviewed include a recording studio at University of California, Los Angeles, where challenges included the need to accommodate all musical genres, from jazz, to orchestra, to drum ensembles. The two other studios were both for broadcast organizations: KCRW, an influential NPR-affiliated music-orientated radio station and for the commercial radio broadcaster SiriusXM. The paper includes discussion of why and how various acoustical techniques were utilized, including use of "floating" construction and live room variable acoustics. Solutions for successfully incorporating significant areas of glazing into live rooms and accommodation of audiences are also discussed, along with the various acoustical room finishes that were applied.