The US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) has created three-dimensional (3D) point cloud representations of Dry Dock 8 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY).

The project has been carried out by engineers from the Advanced Data, Prototyping Technologies and Virtual Environments (ADAPT.VE) Lab at NSWCPD.

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According to the US Navy, Dry Dock 8 has the capacity to support the newest USS Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.

"Norfolk Naval was very interested in have having engineers from the ADAPT.VE lab use laser metrology technology to create a virtual 3D representation of the entire dry dock."

The 3D model is intended to enable the navy to handle data using existing computer-aided design (CAD) tools in order to enhance shipyard productivity.

ADAPT.VE Lab engineers initially scanned the dock using laser metrology equipment and the data captured was then post-processed to develop a useful end product such as a 3D CAD object or point cloud representation.

The creation of the end-product allowed the engineers to programme future dry dock operations into the model to enable the visualisation and study of the projected workflow, thereby leading to recommendations for the optimal placement of hardware.

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The process can be used to plan the facilities and dry dock support services that would be able to generate efficient workflow for the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).

Scanning Project lead Caitlin Swec said: “Norfolk Naval was very interested in have having engineers from the ADAPT.VE lab use laser metrology technology to create a virtual 3D representation of the entire dry dock for planning purposes.”

The scanning project was conducted in support of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) initiative, Naval Shipyard Innovation Projects.

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