Title: Recoverability Effectiveness by In-situ Automation of Distributed System Designs
Authors: John A. W. Sajdak and Derek Skahen
Abstract: The Damage Control Automation for Reduced Manning (DC-ARM) and Integrated Survivability Fleet Evaluation (ISFE) joint manned tests of anti-ship missile strikes conducted in 1998 showed that it took over 20 minutes for DC teams to isolate the firemain damage. Since the breathing air endurance of a DC team member is ~ 20 to 30 minutes, within these tests, the first DC team accomplished little in the way of preventing the spread of fire before having to leave the scene. Since the DC-ARM/ISFE tests, navies have sought to increase automation through the design by incorporating enhancing technologies such as smart systems and controls. Within this paper, the authors present a comparative study of two firemain system designs on an international 100m coastal defense frigate. Both firemain systems will be identically arranged in a cross-connected ring loop configuration with the sole difference being the replacement of remote operated isolation valves with pressure sensing smart valves. Within this study each system will be tested using the Integrated Recoverability Model (IRM) software to estimate the degraded performance capability through time post weapon impact events. The end purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of in-situ automation enhancement of distributed firemain system designs.