****Guidance on the Design of Ships for Enhanced Escape and Evacuation
Project EGO
EPSRC funded project 2005-2007
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Project Partners:
Academic Partners: FSEG University of Greenwich: GR/T22100/01
Academic Partners: DRC University College London: GR/T22117/01
Industrial Partner: Directorate of Sea Systems, Defence Equipment and Support organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence (DES-SESea)**
Traditionally, when designing a ship the driving issues are seen to be powering, stability, strength and seakeeping. When the broad form of the layout has been finalised, human factors issues related to crew numbers, ship operations and evolutions, such as evacuation, are either ignored, considered as an after thought or incorporated through a set of prescriptive rules. This can result in significant operational inefficiencies and potentially hazardous environments onboard. The overall objective of this multidisciplinary research project is to show the advantages of integrating the cutting edge technologies of Escape Simulation (i.e. maritimeEXODUS developed by the FSEG of the University of Greenwich) and Ship Configurational Design (i.e. SURFCON developed by the Marine Research Group of UCL). This will enhance the guidance for all parties in the design, regulation, construction and operation of ships with regard to the main aspects of personnel movement onboard. To achieve this, the project draws on the well-established expertise of the FSEG of the University of Greenwich in the area of fire and evacuation modelling and the Design Research Centre, Marine Research Group of UCL in the area of ship architecture design. While this project addresses the design of naval vessels, the principle behind the proposed methodology and the tool set produced have direct application to the design of commercial and passenger vessels.