A Design Expert System for Auto-Routing of Ship Pipes

Abstract

Finding the optimum route of ship pipes is a complicated and time-consuming process. Experience of designers is the main tool in this process. To reduce design man-hours and human errors an expert system shell and a geometric modeling kernel are integrated to automate the design process. Existing algorithms for routing problems have been analyzed - most of them are to solve 2-D circuit routing problems. Design of the ship piping system, especially within the engine room, is a complicated, large-scale 3-D routing problem. Methods of expert systems have been implemented to find the routes of ship pipes on the main deck of a bulk carrier. A framework of the intelligent CAD system for pipe auto-routing is suggested. The CADDS 5 of Computervision is used as the overall CAD environment, the Nexpert Object of Neuron Data is used as the expert system shell, and the CADDS 5 ISSM is used to build user interface through which geometric models of pipes are created and modified.