Discussion
The study clearly revealed that an emergency decision support tool such as the o ne presented,
benefits enormously with the use of a well-designed Virtual Environment. One can even say the
without this Virtual Environment it is not possible to setup, control and visualize the simulation
properly. The study also highlighted the difference, but at the same time the mutual support, between
the Virtual Environment and the Simulation Engine. They were independent of each other and may
run independently. However, by linking both, an improvement of both programs is achieved. The
Virtual Environment becomes more real because it simulates a real phenomenon even if simplified,
and the results of the simulation engine become more clear, understandable and eas ily manipulated.
For this specific case, the connection of the Virtual Environment to the s imulation algorithm proved to
be fundamental for setting up, controlling and visualizing the results provided by the simulation: the
user is able to analyse the flow of water between the compartments in real time and the effect on ship
stability.
The use of advanced real-time visualization techniques and Graphical User Interfaces, consumes
many computational resources not only from the CPUs but also from the GPUs. The number of virtual
objects considered in the ship may easily reach some hundreds, and these must be continuously
detected for possible selection by the user. On the other hand, for the physical algorithm to run in realtime,
and in this case in fast-forward time, intensive computation is also required. For these two
reasons, the system requires a robust and powerful hardware specification preferably with distributed
computation that allows ultra-fast calculation both for the physical and graphical components.
Although the system was primarily conceived to be a decision support tool, it is planned in short
term future to use it as a training tool. For this purpose, some modifications and some new features
need to be added. A distributed virtual environment needs to be implemented with two slightly
different versions of the application: one for the monitor and one for the trainee. Both will have the
same features for changing accesses’ states (opening/closing doors, valves, etc.), however, the
monitor’s version will have the ability to generate casualties and to start the physical simulation. The
monitor version will also simulate the actions performed by damage control teams’ according to the
trainee’s instructions.