A discussion on ship technology in the 1980s - A design methodology for ships and other complex systems

A methodology for designing large multiunit, multipurpose ocean based systems is proposed. The methodology is in fact a disciplined procedure for selecting the system and its characteristics that will best satisfy the overall problem objective. The methodology addresses all stages of design of large systems from the design of a particular subsystem to the design of an overall system. Emphasis in this paper is on the exploratory phase of the proposed methodology.