Versatility vs. retrofittability tradeoff in design of non-transport vessels

Carl Fredrik Rehn, Jose Jorge Garcia Agis, Stein Ove Erikstad, Richard de Neufville
2018 Ocean Engineering  
In this paper, we study the relationship between economic performance and flexibility for non-transport vessels. More specifically, we investigate the difference between two means of achieving flexibility: retrofittability and versatility, i.e., the ability of a vessel to satisfy diverse needs with or without change of physical form, respectively. A model is presented to study this relationship, where we first generate design alternatives with relevant, flexible properties before we
more » ... evaluate the design alternatives based on their expected discounted economic lifecycle performance. The evaluation model is based on a two-level decomposition of the planning horizon to handle temporal complexity, using scenario planning and Epoch-Era analysis (EEA) for long-term strategic considerations, and Monte Carlo simulation and optimization for medium-term tactical ship deployment. The proposed model is applied to an offshore construction ship design case. Findings indicate that retrofittability significantly can increase economic performance for nontransport vessels operating in an uncertain heterogeneous context.
doi:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2018.08.057 fatcat:s5ar4u2zzjaq5jkppr5q6ucdyi