Acrylic Plastic Spherical Pressure Hull for Continental Shelf Depths

Abstract

A spherical acrylic pressure hull of NEMO design has been designed for an operational depth of 8,000 feet. The design meets the requirements of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 'Safety Standard for Pressure Vessels for Human Occupancy.' The performance of the spherical acrylic hull has been experimentally evaluated by pressure testing 13 scale-model acrylic spheres under short-term, long-term, and cyclic conditions. The test results have shown that the NEMO-type acrylic spherical hull with t/Di = 0.2 thickness withstands > 1,000 pressure cycles of 4 hour's duration to design depths of 8,000 feet at ambient temperatures less than or equal 75 deg F. The acrylic hull withstood without catastrophic failure a 150-percent overpressurization (20,000 feet depth) of 150 hour's duration. Acrylic plastic, External pressure housing, Ocean engineering.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA279768

Entities

People

  • Andrew Clark
  • C. B. Brenn
  • J. D. Stachiw

Organizations

  • Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil Engineering
  • Construction
  • Creep
  • Design Depths
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanical Working
  • Mechanics
  • Physical Properties
  • Pressure Hulls
  • Pressure Testing
  • Pressure Vessels
  • Scale Models
  • Seabed
  • Standards
  • Submarine Hulls

Readers

  • Explosive Engineering.
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
  • Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies