Close

DLBA YACHTING NEWS

DLBA & Leidos Combination: Even More to Offer in Strong and Lightweight Structures

JANUARY 10, 2022

The combination of DLBA and Leidos structural engineering capabilities brings significant benefit to our customers and their programs.  The Leidos team brings additional composite engineering capability (two composite structural engineers and a composite manufacturing engineer, formerly of Gurit (USA) Inc.). The team has significant experience in high end, advanced marine vessels and carbon and e-glass prepreg and infusion composite construction. The team focuses on high-speed naval vessel design and analysis and has significant experience in the design and analysis of production motor yachts, racing yachts, and custom super yachts to accurately predict their structural performance.

Seahawk Participating in U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem

Image Courtesy of Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shannon Renfroe

The team has designed and classed vessels to ABS, DNV, Lloyd’s Register and ISO rules and has experience   interfacing with scantling societies during the design process for technical review and consultation related to various vessel designs. Sea Hunter and Seahawk are advanced wave-piercing trimarans, designed to ABS HSNC. They were analyzed using the team’s advanced Finite Element Analysis (FEA) design capability (Altair Hyperworks suite of software) using ply-based modelling to create and analyze a whole vessel model. Leidos also has extensive hydrodynamics modeling experience with a variety of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools, including generating pressures and loads to apply directly in the FEA model. This analysis is used to identify areas of stress concentration and complex global structural modes to optimize vessel structural geometry and laminate schedules via material selection, patching, and fiber orientation. This analysis has been successfully used to tailor the structural laminate design for noise and vibration damping in super yachts: reducing the need for heavy sound damping materials. Our team also has extensive experience in defining composite reinforcement design material properties for Carbon, Kevlar, and e-glass reinforcements and in optimizing laminates to yield weight savings. Weight savings may be realized via a construction method change (carbon prepreg vs e-glass hand laid or infusion) or via optimizing reinforcement and core selection. Our team also has composite kitting experience whereby reinforcements and core are precisely cut to aid manufacturing repeatability and quality control to yield improved parts that can reduce weight associated with unnecessary overlaps and resin filled voids.

Modal analysis results of preliminary conceptual composite vessel design

Leidos Image

The acquisition of DLBA and their parent company Gibbs and Cox to Leidos brings together experts in the field of Naval Architecture, hydrodynamics, composite structures, and manufacturing. The newly formed team can take advantage of 35 + years of experience in analysis, design, and manufacturing support. The team can take ideas sketched on a napkin, mature them in 3D CAD, assess in a time domain motion program, analyze by first principal analysis, and conduct Finite Element Analysis (FEA) where required. The engineering process maintains direct input from the manufacturing experts who steer the design towards something that can be built within cost and schedule constraints. 

Share this article online:

Share on facebook
Share on linkedin
Share on twitter
Share on whatsapp
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US
DLBA_Naval_architects_bluelogo_2022

DLBA Naval Architects

860 Greenbrier Circle, Suite 201  Chesapeake, Virginia 23320 USA

Phone: 757-545-3700  |  Fax: 757-545-8227  | dlba@gibbscox.com

STAY UPDATED

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest points of focus in naval architecture and engineering: subscribe to DLBA’s concise monthly newsletter. Within it, we briefly describe and picture our latest projects and concepts. We encourage feedback and seek to have our newsletter spark conversation regarding potential collaborations and further advancements as we share our passion for the industry.