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Typical pressure hull structure

FROM:

John R. MacKay (Defence Research and Development Canada), “Structural analysis and design of pressure hulls: the state of the art and future trends”, Defence R&D Canada – Atlantic, Technical Memorandum, DRDC Atlantic TM 2007-188, October 2007

ABSTRACT: Pressure hulls are the main load bearing structures of naval submarines, commercial and research submersibles, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The many similarities between pressure hull, offshore, aerospace and some civil engineering structures mean that advances in one group are often applicable to the others, and thus this document is sometimes concerned with the entire collection of thin-walled curved structures designed for instability, referred to hereafter as “buckling-critical shells.” The state-of-the-art of pressure hull structural analysis and design is established in this document by: 1) explaining the nature of structural strength, and associated weaknesses, in pressure hulls; 2) summarizing traditional and contemporary structural analysis and design methods for pressure hulls; 3) identifying trends with respect to numerical modeling of buckling-critical shell structures; and 4) reviewing novel design procedures for buckling-critical shell structures. It is suggested that the layered conservatism of the traditional design approach could be improved by the use of nonlinear numerical methods for strength predictions, and a way forward is suggested that would allow pressure hull design procedures to incorporate these methods.

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