Toward New Naval Platforms: A Strategic View of the Future of Naval Engineering (2019) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 31-48
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31 3 Naval Engineering Research and Development The maritime operating environment imposes challenges and requires capabilities that can be especially -- and often solely -- relevant to the U.S. Department of the Navy.
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32 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS those being furthered elsewhere in ONR, implies a level of engagement and attention sufficient to know whether a development may be a candidate for such targeted investments by NNR-NE. Applied to S&T topics in this way, the "lead, leverage, and monitor" framework can be helpful for setting priorities within the NNR-NE S&T portfolio.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 33 Advanced Naval Power The advanced naval power program focuses on the S&T advances required for integrated platform power systems that can meet the energy demands of advanced directed-energy weapons, more powerful detection systems, electrified propulsion equipment, and unmanned platforms.1 Meeting the demands of many new electrical loads will require major increases in the electric power capacities of future naval platforms.2 Individual research areas cover the following five major topics, the content of which is illustrated by some example topics: 1. Power Generation: fuel cells and fuel reforming, and advanced generators including new features such as superconducting field windings and advanced shipboard turbine engines with higher efficiency and lower emissions.
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34 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS • Power distribution system reconfigurability and survivability to withstand battle damage/failures • Thermal management to handle high heat fluxes, enabling increased power density • On-station autonomous energy harvesting, including wave energy recovery Based on the information provided in the ONR briefings, the advanced power program of NNR-NE is aggressively seeking to fill these S&T gaps through a number of projects. For example, the 12 kV DC architecture that has received considerable attention within the advanced power program hinges critically on the successful development of reliable, compact, and cost-effective DC breakers to protect the DC system against faults caused by equipment failures or battle damage.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 35 The research employs a well-established hierarchy of experimental (small, medium, and large scale) and computational approaches (Direct Numerical Simulations, Large-Eddy Simulations, Reynolds-Averaged NavierStokes Simulations, and potential flow simulations)
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36 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS resources. The program has yielded steady improvements in understanding of governing physics, as well as furthering the development of predictive capabilities and the exploration of innovative concepts.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 37 in complex sea environments and swarm maneuvers with other platforms.6 The program's research covers the following major topics: • Unmanned Surface Vessel Swarm: multi-platform autonomy and self-managed multi-unit task allocation in complex mission environments • Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vessel: blue water demonstration of prototype vessel (SEA HUNTER developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) with minimal remote operator control, and complementary modeling and simulation The ONR briefings on these two program areas centered on the work being undertaken on automation and control, as well as employing at-sea testing, modeling, and simulations.
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38 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS systems, large variability in operational profile, and survivability for wartime environments. The program's focus on the education and development of a U.S.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 39 and rapidly swappable electronic sensors and systems. Related, future designs must aggressively go after ways to drive down the costs to operate and maintain the future fleet, no matter its composition.
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40 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS of R&D projects is too limiting, and in the committee's view it is in need of a strategic framework for establishing the content of this portfolio and extending its reach. STRATEGIC USE OF THE "LEAD, LEVERAGE, AND MONITOR" FRAMEWORK The committee considered a wide range of S&T fields and disciplines that promise in some way to comprise or influence the NE discipline and naval platform development in the future.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 41 multidisciplinary understanding to provide fully capable and affordable integration. For example, adding high-power laser weapon systems requires power generation, storage, and distribution that may not be practical and affordable in existing mechanical platforms.
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42 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS A focus on automation, therefore, may neglect S&T relevant to autonomous capabilities, which the DSB notes is spawning rapid advances in the underlying technology base, driven in large part by the commercial sector. However, even a focus on autonomous capabilities can be too narrow when considered in the context of the Navy's more encompassing interest in "platform control and maneuverability." While research on automation may have relevance to this critical interest, basic research is also needed in other areas, for instance, to understand the complex coupled platform motions when performing dynamic maneuvers (e.g., crashback)
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 43 R&D in other sectors, but that bear strongly on the interests of the lead areas. NNR-NE investments that leverage this S&T to make it more applicable and relevant to the needs of a maritime environment may therefore be desirable and worthy candidates for a "leverage" portfolio.
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44 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS It is important to recognize, however, that a significant amount of investment is being made by industry in the development of advanced power electronics and power systems for a wide range of industrial and transportation system applications. The Navy can take advantage of these investments to further its critical interest in platform power -- for instance, by leveraging the investments made by industry and other federal agencies in areas such as wide-bandgap power semiconductor switches and high-voltage DC power systems.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 45 Leveraging Autonomy and Robotics, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Sensors, Cybersecurity, and Communications for Platform Propulsion, Power and Energy, Structures and Materials, Maneuvering and Control, and Hydrodynamics Many of the example S&T topics listed in the "leverage" column of Table 3-1 would have relevance to a number of the NNR-NE's core or lead interests, especially when considered in the context of platform-specific needs. To illustrate, consider the performance and capability requirements of autonomous amphibious vehicles.
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46 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS topics listed in the leverage and monitoring columns are examples, and not intended to be a prioritization. Given the fast pace of technological change, it is reasonable to expect that S&T topics will need to be shifted among the two columns -- necessitating frequent reviews of the coverage and linkages of content in the NNR-NE portfolio.
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NAVAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 47 to a more heterogeneous and distributed force, the U.S. naval capability ultimately lies in the platforms that are deployed and the personnel that design, build, and operate them.
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48 TOWARD NEW NAVAL PLATFORMS characterize, and predict local platform environments that require consideration of the highly nonlinear processes and coupled interactions involving waves, currents, turbulence, bottom and boundary topographies, and possibly near-surface winds (all of which can affect the operational feasibility and envelope, as well as safety and even survivability, of the platforms)
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