Customer challenge
- Need for seamless integration into client’s project ecosystem: Use equipment and piping models from a different CAD system in CADMATIC Hull and deliver whole model to client in fully usable format for coordination and FEM.
Seatech Engineering's expertise stands out in FSRU Conversion
Enhanced design quality with COS integration
Polish design office successfully completes demanding conversion project using CADMATIC Hull by importing models from client’s external CAD system and exporting STEP files back to client for further use.
Cadmatic solution
- High level of interoperability allows import of DWG ACAD 3D files and export of STEP files back to client. Resulted in faster and more accurate creation of the reference and supporting structure.
“Importing and visualizing the external piping and equipment models in CADMATIC Hull helped us verify their correct placement, eliminated collisions with the hull structure, and allowed seamless fitting of the foundations and supports.” – Piotr Kosiorek, Hull Structure Department Manager
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in October 2023, Seatech Engineering Ltd recently successfully completed the demanding hull structure design of a Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) that was converted from an LNG Carrier for a leading global gas industry company.
Based in Gdańsk, Seatech focuses on medium-sized vessels for the maritime industry, such as research vessels, offshore vessels, fishing units, dredgers, passenger ships, and NATO military units. The office has special expertise in ship and installation designs related to Small-Scale LNG, having the largest portfolio of such projects on the Polish market. Seatech’s Hull Structure Department has been using Cadmatic for hull and outfitting design since 2007.
A complex engineering feat – Integrating with the client's ecosystem
The conversion project’s core involved creating suitable foundations and reinforcing the existing hull structure of the LNG Carrier to accommodate additional devices and installations like regasification modules, a vaporizing system, LNG reliquefication, and a boil-off gas (BOG) system.
A further layer of complexity was added by the need to integrate hull design in Cadmatic with the client’s design ecosystem: equipment and piping models from the client’s CAD system were imported as DWG ACAD 3D files and the completed model and documentation were exported again as STEP files for further use in the client’s CAD system.
“It is often necessary to input data from external 3D CAD systems while running a hull design project. Our customers commonly expect not only 2D documentation, but also 3D models in formats that can be read by their own systems,” highlights Maciej Dobruchowski, Hull Structure Engineer, who worked on the project.
Maciej adds that the imported 3D model was visible in CADMATIC Hull and any changes could be easily implemented.
Tacking technical challenges
Without the possibility of 3D scanning due to ship’s active service, Seatech Engineering began by modelling the midship and the bow based on as-built documentation.
The design of new reinforcements and foundations was followed by rigorous recalculations and stability analyses, ensuring adherence to industry standards.
Benefiting from specialized hull design software
The client benefitted from Seatech Engineering’s ability to use a specialized hull modelling and documentation software like CADMATIC Hull on the project.
“We were able to create more accurate reference and supporting structures, as well as do it faster. With the seamless importing and visualizing of piping and equipment, we could also check the placement and ensure that there were no collisions with the hull structure. As a result, we could seamlessly fit the foundations and supports. Our client was very satisfied with the documentation and quality of the model they received,” points out Maciej.
If you're curious about the details of this project and the steps that were followed in the software, please download Seatech's case study summary from this year's Cadmatic Digital Wave Forum in Hamburg.
Interoperability has been one of the founding pillars of Cadmatic software development. See here for more information about interoperability and eXchangers in Cadmatic.
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