CHAPTER 6 - MIT MATH MODEL
The MIT Math Model was developed in 1975 by Clark Graham
while serving as the 13A course Associate Professor of
Naval Construction in conjunction with 13A student R.
Hamley. It was developed as an educational tool in order to
assist 13A students with the ship cost estimating process
for their ship design projects. It was adapted from the
Navy Synthesis Model and called "Simplified Math Model for
the Design of Naval Frigates". The model was revised and
updated in 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990. It is in excel
format and designed to be a balance between simplicity,
sophistication, and generality. It is relatively easy to
understand and use and it is compatible with all personal
computers.
Users of the model have to; however, understand its
limitations. It is designed in order to be applicable to
Naval Frigates, with a range of displacements from 2500 to
8500 tons. The model analyzes only conventional monohulls
and assumes standard USN design practices. The system is
limited to single screw vessels with diesel generator sets.
The hull materials considered are mild steel hull with
options for aluminium or mild steel superstructure. The system uses the USN SWBS weight breakdown system for
weights. The empirically derived CER's are therefore
primarily weight based. The model therefore has a limited
scope without much flexibility for change. Having said
that, its purpose is a teaching tool for naval ship design.
The students are not presenting their designs to NAVSEA for
appropriations from Congress, nore are they submitting
detailed engineering designs to shipyards for construction.
Thus at this level of preliminary design the model appears
to be successful. Even the most modern (PODAC) systems still use parametric weight based empirical CER's from
historical data (Chapter 5) . Thus MIT's system is not using
methods that far from standard industry practice at this
level of design.