Naval Engineering in the 21st Century The Science and Technology Foundation for Future Naval Fleets -- Special Report 306 (2011) / Chapter Skim
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5 Conclusions and Recommendations
5 Conclusions and Recommendations
Pages 174-219
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to examine the state of basic and applied research in the scientific fields that support naval engineering and to advise it on whether ONR activities, under its National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering (NNR-NE) initiative, have been effective in sustaining these fields.
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The history of innovation in ship design and development provides examples of cases in which basic and early applied research in fields related to naval engineering was essential to the development of new naval capabilities. Moreover, the potential exists for high-payoff applications of research in progress today, even if the probability and form of applications cannot be predicted precisely.
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Management of research in the other three fields is simpler, because each has a relatively narrow focus and the research objectives and research community to be sustained are relatively easy to define. In contrast, naval engineering is an essentially integrative activity that must apply scientific knowledge from an expansive array of disciplines to solve multiple complex problems of naval ship design.
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The committee's recommendations propose a process for monitoring the health of these fields systematically so that ONR can obtain the information it needs to guide sound research investment decisions. State of Research The committee's conclusions address the status of the research enterprise in the scientific and technical fields supporting naval engineering as these fields are pursued in universities, government laboratories, and industry.
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The field of naval hydromechanics, that is, research aimed at understanding the physical phenomena that determine the hydrodynamic and hydroacoustic performance of naval ships, arguably would not survive without Navy support. The move in recent years to replace experimental work with computation -- in part to save costs (and time)
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However, the health of the field of structures research directly related to naval engineering, exclusive of ONR activities, can only be considered as poor to fair in the United States. Ship Design Tools Conclusion 3c: Little research in the United States is aimed at developing improved tools and methods for use in the early stages of the design of naval ships.
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At the same time, the shipbuilding industry, with Navy support, has invested significantly in the development of tools for detail design, the stage of design that produces the plans and procedures that guide the shipyard construction workers and provides control over construction cost and schedule. These shipyard design tools are more advanced than are those in use for commercial ship design and construction, because the complexity of modern naval ships demands more sophisticated methods.
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Ship design tools research is actively pursued in the commercial sector in Asia (where commercial design and shipbuilding are thriving competitive industries) and in Europe.
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research capability to work on problems important to the Navy, ONR should carry out regular systematic assessments of the state of health of each of the research fields supporting naval engineering in the United States. ONR assessments should examine the objectives and progress of related research supported by ONR, other DOD agencies, other federal government agencies, and the private sector.
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However, research centers and departments concentrating on certain specialized fields critical to naval engineering and deriving a large share of their research support from ONR (including centers and departments that perform research in hydrodynamics and in ship design methods) may be vulnerable.
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State of Infrastructure The committee understood the reference to infrastructure in its task statement to mean institutional as well as physical infrastructure. Institutional infrastructure was defined as the established institutional framework of research in naval engineering -- schools; university, government, and industry research laboratories; grant-making organizations such as ONR and NSF; and scientific and professional societies.
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; and U.S. and foreign commercial ship designers, builders, and operators.
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Physical Infrastructure Conclusion 7: The committee collected limited data on physical research infrastructure from ONR, Navy laboratories, and naval engi neering researchers. No obvious shortfalls were identified.
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Overall Portfolio Relationship of the Portfolio to Needs and Objectives Conclusion 9: The wholeness of the NNR-NE portfolio can be judged only by comparing its objectives and accomplishments with the Navy's priorities for innovation in naval engineering. Priorities should be determined through regular communication with ship designers, fleet strategic planners, and researchers in the fields allied with naval engi neering and should be specified in a plan.
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A clear correlation between needs and research emphasis was not always evident to the committee in its examination of the NNR-NE portfolio and its review of the research needs implications of the Navy's operational challenges. Definition of the Technical Areas Within NNR-NE In presentations and in project summaries provided to the committee, ONR management defined the scope of research within the NNR-NE to include basic and early applied research in six scientific and technical areas that support naval engineering: ship design tools; structural systems; hydromechanics and hull design; propulsors; automation, control, and system integration; and platform power and energy.
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Without an integrated multidisciplinary approach, there are likely to be omissions in basic and early applied research and incorrect projections of the course and speed of technology development; that is, capabilities will not be available when needed. Recommendation 3: ONR should retain the six fields of ship design tools; structural systems; hydromechanics and hull design; propul sors; automation, control, and system integration; and platform power and energy in the definition of the areas of basic and applied research within NNR-NE.
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and with the long-term perspective that the NNRs are intended to take. It also is consistent with the recommendation of the 2005 NRC Committee on Department of Defense Basic Research that DOD should define basic research not as research that is designed with no specific applications relating to the Navy mission but rather as research with the potential for broad rather than specific application (NRC 2005, 1)
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Also, in some fields (including ship design tools) , relevant research at ONR that is outside the administrative definition of the NNR-NE, and regarding which the committee did not receive information, may address some apparent gaps in the NNR-NE portfolio.
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, and prediction of wave impact loads. A major share of ship-related research is for large-scale computational fluid dynamics.
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The committee could not identify research programs in the NNR-NE portfolio that addressed this future need. Ship Design Tools Basic and early applied research on problems in total ship systems design is largely missing from the portfolio.
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have taken a step toward defining the Navy ship design process and associated tools, providing objectives for improvement, and identifying actions and research necessary to achieve these objectives. However, a formal connection between the results of the workshops and ONR design tools portfolio management has not been established.
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It is equally important to pay due attention to integration of the power system with the total ship system and to transition of the technology rapidly and effectively to the ship planners. The transition process should be initiated in the early conceptual design stages.
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However, gaps in Navy planning threaten to hinder transition of the technology beyond ONR research and development. The definition of power electronics–based IPS and the design of its components, including converters, generators, energy storage systems, and design tools for more conventional ship designs and weapon system power loads, are adequately emphasized.
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Examples of research needs arising from these forces are the following: • Needs arising from the future operating environment: – New technologies to reduce ship signatures and more capable radar, as means of defense against future threats – Ice-strengthened structural design and cold weather operation of ships, to prepare for an expanded Navy mission in the Arctic • Needs arising from future naval operations (e.g., to support opera tions such as counterterrorism and irregular warfare) : – More versatile platforms for inshore and special operations – Unmanned vehicles and the ships to carry and support them – Integration of complex systems into ship designs with minimum increase in complexity • Needs arising from resource prospects: – Naval engineering aspects of shipbuilding and ship construction engineering aimed at reducing procurement costs – Reduction of life-cycle costs, for example through development of life-cycle cost–benefit models, durable structures, open architecture
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Advances in this area together with the advances being made in super computers and parallel processing will greatly assist ship design. For example, development of virtual prototype designs carried out in a real time simulation framework will allow trade-off studies to be performed quickly and efficiently; • Virtual design, testing, and evaluation capabilities for platforms systems and subsystems; • Application of power electronics–based IPS for managing shipboard power and energy needs; and • Systems engineering tools capitalizing on advances in fields such as human factors, biomechanics, and biomimicry, which may be applic able to ship design and production problems.
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provide and sustain robust research expertise in the United States working on longterm problems of importance to the Department of the Navy; (2) ensure that an adequate pipeline of new researchers, engineers, and faculty continues; and (3)
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The physical infrastructure of laboratories and equipment, which receives important support through ONR research grants, appears to be adequate for current needs. However, the NNR-NE initiative has yet to reach its potential.
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ONR created NNR-NE as a mechanism to focus its basic and applied research and education activities in support of naval engineering and to emphasize the importance of technical progress in naval engineering to Navy missions. However, NNR-NE has never attained the intended status.
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However, this significance of NNR designation is not explicit in the ONR memorandum or instruction. Actions that ONR could incorporate in the NNR-NE initiative to promote and strengthen naval engineering–related research (and which may not have been required in the absence of the NNR designation)
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Conclusion 26: The committee's assessments of the significance of the research were complicated by the lack of a full picture of ONR work related to naval engineering. Particularly in the fields of ship design tools; structures; and automation, control, and system integration, the committee understands that some relevant basic and early applied research is being conducted in ONR divisions other than Ship Systems and Engineering Research.
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However, the practical significance of managing STEM as an element of the NNRs is not evident. The reports and documents listed in the 2001 ONR memorandum in support of the need for the NNR-NE frequently cite concern for the future adequacy of the workforce of practicing naval engineers.
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Project lists would be an effective way of advertising ONR's interests and funding availability to prospective proposers and would help ONR's clients in the Navy and shipbuilding to stay informed of ONR research. • Recommendation 9c: ONR should use the enterprisewide informa tion system as a management tool in assessing NNR-NE progress; tracking funding allocation trends; benchmarking performance; and communicating NNR-NE progress, achievements, and potential.
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Assessment includes measuring outcomes, benchmarking performance and evaluating results, providing feedback, establishing continuous improvement processes, and publishing lessons learned and best practices. Key to high-performance portfolio management processes are the assessment, benchmarking, and continuous process improvement activities that align incentives with desired performance (Eccles 1991; Eccles and Pyburn 1992; Brown 1996; Melnyk et al.
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Practices appear to vary by field at the discretion of the program officer. As a consequence, the initiative appears to lack a consistent and rigorous process to define and track performance indicators, assess performance, benchmark outcomes, and achieve continuous improvement.
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• Metrics for measuring the activities of research needs identifica tion, resource allocation, research management performance, and continuous process improvement. • A continuous process improvement activity that utilizes the metrics to assess research portfolio management activities and alignment with Navy needs and to evaluate and report annually on organiza tional progress over time.
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Recommendation 11: ONR should identify, utilize, and periodically reassess metrics to measure NNR-NE portfolio balance, in line with ONR's stated goals and articulated mission needs. Once established, these metrics should be incorporated into ONR's enterprisewide assess ment and continuous process improvement program.
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Papers published and students supported are limited in value as metrics because they correlate with funding levels regardless of the value of output. ONR should systematically monitor the state of the S&T fields that support naval engineering, in the United States and internationally.
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Recommendation 14: Because of the importance and complexity of emerging problems in naval engineering S&T, along with increasing demands for integrative and interdisciplinary research across all tech nological disciplines (NRC 1999) , ONR should consider, as part of its continuous process improvement and assessment practices, adopting integrative and interdisciplinary metrics of performance in and across each of the NNR-NE functional areas.
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For applied research, appropriate metrics would relate to technology transition into Navy research and development projects at the Budget Activity 3 level and above. Management of basic research depends primarily on the competence of the program officers, ONR's staff scientists.
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Conclusion 29: External peer review (that is, review by technical experts from outside ONR) throughout the research project selec tion process offers the opportunity to strengthen project selection and to obtain the advice and counsel of technical experts, NAVSEA technical authorities, and industry practitioners who are the ulti mate recipients of the developed technology, while maintaining the ONR program officer's independence in making decisions for his or her program.
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Technology Interpreter ONR today defines the scope of the NNR-NE in terms of six discrete scientific and technical areas that support naval engineering (structural systems; hydromechanics and hull design; propulsors; automation, control, and system integration; platform power and energy; and ship design tools)
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The technology interpreter role could be implemented in a variety of ways -- as the responsibility of an individual within an ONR department or division tasked with technology interpretation, advocacy, and connection responsibilities; as responsibilities of existing program officers who were encouraged to pursue technology integration within and across their disciplines; or through advisory or consultative arrangements, for example, through peer review or other interactions with contributors outside ONR. Maintaining Connections Across the Wider Naval Engineering Community Maintaining connections among the wider naval ship systems engineering community means bridging the valleys that naturally exist between the naval research, design, manufacturing, and operational communities and the commercial and offshore communities.
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However, the committee was unable to find evidence that NNR-NE strategic planning makes use of measures of connectivity, communication effectiveness, human capital, or organizational development. Recommendation 17: To maintain connectivity among the wider naval engineering community, NNR-NE should utilize the concept of technology interpreter or otherwise establish integrative and connective responsibilities within ONR management and should continue to support, participate in, and incentivize its ongoing connectivity and communication activities, including conferences, workshops, and seminars, and the activities of ONR Global.
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Recommendation 19: As part of its enterprisewide strategic planning process, ONR should establish a culture of interdisciplinary and inte grative research within and around the NNR-NE S&T enterprise and should establish processes that foster, nurture, encourage, and incen tivize interdisciplinary or integrative research. The NNR-NE interdis ciplinary and integrative research objectives should be established as part of the NNR-NE strategic planning processes and should include assessment, benchmarking, and continuous process improvement components.
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218 Naval Engineering in the 21st Century Recommendation 20: ONR should reinvigorate its efforts in develop ing the 21st century naval engineering workforce, including improve ment of outreach activities to underrepresented groups. ONR's lead role for STEM activities should be strengthened and incorporated into its strategic planning processes, and performance metrics for work force development and STEM achievements should be identified, measured, incentivized, and included in ONR's assessment, bench marking, and continuous process improvement activities.
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2000. An Assessment of Naval Hydromechanics Science and Technology.
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