Acrylic Plastic Spherical Pressure Hull for Continental Shelf Depths

摘要

A spherical acrylic pressure hull of NEMO design has been designed for anoperational 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.