Hello All
I figured it was time to get my feet wet sorta speak and start posting. Call me the newbie bulge rat if you want to, but remember I know where the last crew left the rum stash.
I've been trying to keep up with what Peter Madison is doing on his new sub UC-3. It looks like he is using a little different ring bracing structure to support the main pressure hull in the UC-3 then he used in Kraka and what we see in the Euronaut. It looks like the Euronaut used rolled I-beams which is a very practical way to get a strong ring quickly with allot less welding. I don't like welding around the corner anyway. I was thinking of doing a design on my sub much like what I see Peter is doing on the UC-3 in a T beam style, but I liked the idea of not having to cut up large panels of steel for those flat vertical sections of the rings then trying to use up the scraps else were.
I think the I-beam design is stronger but I was concerned about rust and condensation between the welds holding the I-beam type ring onto the outer hull? As you know if you don't design a sub to be able to reasonably deal with rust in saltwater you'll pay for it later. I'd love to hear Carstens thoughts on this as well as anyone else's.
I have noticed that Freya looks to have the same T Beam type support rings as the UC-3. I also noticed that Kraka has Solid bar steel support rings so in that design you would have the small voids I was talking about between the welds holding the rings onto the outer pressure hull. I would be interesting to hear Peter's thoughts on this as well as any one else's. I suspect it's more or less sealed and shouldn't be a problem but it would be good to know real life data. If one were to TIG weld it they would have a better chance of them being totally sealed but it's allot easier if you can MIG weld them. I'm also interested in this basic ? Of over laping metal in regards to exterior weldments since it's in allot of water most of the time. I've seen so many subs turn into rust nightmares really fast that I need to design just about everything with that in mind.
Brent Hartwig