Status and Projections of Developments in Hull Structural Materials for Deep Ocean Vehicles and Fixed Bottom Installations

摘要

A wide variety of hull structural materials may be expected to compete in the future for applications in both military submarines and deep-diving research vehicles. These include steels, titanium, aluminum, fiber-reinforced plastics, and glass. Additionally, composite construction incorporating different materials may be expected to be competitive. This report comprises a number of separate sections dealing with the state of the art and projections of feasible advances in the related processing and fabrication technologies. Similar dissertations are presented for ancillary materials such as hard sea water piping and buoyancy (syntactic) foams. A unique feature of these sections is represented by the use of 'Frame of Reference Charts' which provide a graphical summary of the broad spectrum of strength level and fabrication techniques that may be utilized for the construction of metal structures. This information is applicable also for the construction of fixed bottom installations-of special interest in this respect is a section concerned with the utilization possibilities of concrete. (Author)