Abstract No.C181123-294

Author name(s): Fang WANG, Weicheng CUI

Company: Shanghai Ocean University, China

The human’s interest in exploring the deep-sea environment promotes the development of deep-sea manned submersibles rated for full ocean depth (11000m). The manned cabin made of metal pressure hull and acrylic windows for providing underwater working space for pilots and scientists is of the most important component. Typically, weight-to-displacement ratio is an index in evaluating the efficiency of the submersible. The designers have continually striven to reduce the structural weight of the manned cabin as its weight may be about 20-30% of the submersible. The light weight requirement with the high strength material results in that strength problems of manned cabin considering candidate materials must be investigated. Better performances of advanced materials with diverse properties should be considered in selection of the material considering capability to withstand high external pressure, material availability and cost efficiency, fabrication properties etc. The safety of the manned cabin during long-time service must also be evaluated based on the material properties, structural characteristics, working conditions and loading history. In this paper, the key technologies of manned cabin will be introduced from the perspective of design and safety assessment.

KEY WORDS: deep-sea manned submersible; manned cabin; material selection; design and safety assessment

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