Rolls Royce partners with Norwegian organisation and research institutions

On 30 June, Rolls Royce, the Norwegian Univerity of Technology Science (NTNU), SINTEF Ocean research organisation and classification society DNV GL signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of creating a digital platform that would facilitate the development of new ships.

Through the platform, shipbuilders can create a “digital twin,” in other words a copy of a real ship and its systems, enabling the virtual exploration of the ship and creating a virtual test bench to assess the safety and performance of a vessel and its systems during the design, construction, verification and maintenance phases of new maritime concepts.
Hans Petter Hildre, Professor and Chairman, NTNU, said: “A simulation-based way of working lets us easily test multiple concepts before a final solution is selected. In addition, re-using digital models along the entire value chain will contribute to reducing costs.”

As such, the use of the “digital twin” also contributes to making the shipbuilding industry more efficient by allowing new ideas and concepts to be tested more quickly.

This is intended to be an open platform for use by other parties, with some core aspects built on an open source framework that will enable designers equipment and system manufacturers, yards, ship owners, operators, research institutes and academia to co-create and innovate together. The platform is also designed to serve as a model library where ship concepts can be made fully or partially available. Following the signing of the MoU, the project partners are now working to form a steering group that will define and govern the development of the core platform system and its deployment.

Dr. Alix Valenti