The Korean Register(KR) and NAPA, a leading maritime software, services, and data analysis provider have successfully created a ‘Live Interface Function’ for their respective software programs KR SeaTrust-HullScan and NAPA Steel, allowing the real time synchronization of a ship’s structural data from the NAPA software to KR’s SeaTrust-HullScan.
KR SeaTrust-HullScan is a technical software that performs a structural analysis of oil-tankers and bulk carriers applying the common structural rules, as well as for container ships, LNG carriers, and FPSOs. It is widely used in both domestic and foreign maritime industries, particularly by shipyards and research institutes.
NAPA Steel is a 3D CAD/CAE system developed by NAPA, the industry-leading maritime software company. It is a comprehensive tool for designing, viewing and evaluating 3D designs, enabling designers, engineers and classification societies to rely on a single source of truth. 3D model-based approval also opens the door to greater use of digital twins for asset life-cycle management, where real-world data can be compared against a virtual model of a ship, and vice versa, to identify problems and validate performance data. As a result, it is widely used in the world's leading shipyards, including the big three shipyards in the Republic of Korea.
Most shipyards use the NAPA Steel to design ships and then use SeaTrust-HullScan to check whether the ship design complies with the ship classification’s rules and to obtain approval. The data produced in this process is managed in a unique file format applicable to each software respectively, so in order to import the data used in NAPA Steel into SeaTrust-HullScan, users must convert it into the format necessary for SeaTrust-HullScan.
However, now the new live interface function can share NAPA Steel’s 3D model data which is used to assess the rule scantling of a ship in real time with just one click of a button to SeaTrust-HullScan, significantly reducing the time spent on designing and the possibility of errors.
In addition, it can import the data on SeaTrust-HullScan in real time without running NAPA Steel or using an extra file, offering greater convenience compared to other competitive programs.
KR and NAPA believe that the 3D model-based approval(3D MBA) technology could be developed further and are now working to expand the interface area to the point where data can be exchanged mutually between the software.