Hi Alan,
Uh-oh, problem. Although it sounds entirely reasonable,
that isn't a safe hold-down method. It's essential the flange should be machined
entirely off because it's the area of maximum stress in a blown dome. You
could only really use the proposed method in an ambient boat. I'll let Greg
weigh in as the resident expert, but if he misses this post please be sure to
contact him proactively. This is a serious safety issue, not a detail.
I'm no acrylic expert, but be aware there are other details
that set a submersible dome quite apart from what your local supplier may be
used to fabricating. Like the annealing protocol, for instance, which as I
understand it can have drastic consequences. Viewports are an area in which
something may look OK but not be OK.
thanks,
Alec
Thanks Carsten & Alec, thats great
information.
I'll add a pressure equalizing valve. If I had a
manually operated valve it may
cause problems If I forgot to open it.
I'm not building a K250, the dome on order is being
blown 550mm O/D & from 35mm
thick acrylic. I've asked them to trim the flange
to 15mm wide & 15mm thick & will have
a retaining ring holding it down.
I was concerned that maybe I'd gone a bit thin to
support the upward lifting force of the
dome but it calculates out to about 1 pound
for every inch of flange just at below the surface.
Thats providing as Carsten said, the barametric
pressure isn't higher than outside the sub.
Alan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 9:24
AM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Hatch
pressure
Hi Alan,
If it's a K-250 you're building, here's your other
data point. I just weighed the hatch, and it's 23.5 kg. So it would be 6.5 kg
buoyant.
Alec
Hi thanks people,
I was having trouble understanding this. I just put plastic wrap loosly
over the top of a glass & submerged it. Some
of the wrap bulged up
but you could push parts down below the level of
the top of the glass.
( This proves you right )
I am going with a dome hatch, but
haven't designed the locking mechanism yet.
The dome will be close to 30kg of boyancy
before its mounted.
Alan
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 6:51
AM
Subject: RE: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Hatch
pressure
First weigh the hatch in air. Then calculate the
displacement of the hatch, which is the weight of the water that would fill
an equivalent volume. Subtract the displacement from the weight. If you get
a negative number, the hatch will tend to "float" as you describe. I doubt
very much that would be the case for any conventional elliptical steel
hatch. In the case of an acrylic dome hatch like the K-250, I'd
recommend doing the math because I'm less sure of the outcome
-- those might be slightly buoyant.
Alec
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Hi all,
I've brought up this subject before, but are
tackling it from a differant angle.
How much pressure is exerted upward on a hatch
at the moment where the
submarine
just submerges below the water? This is the
point of most force before external water
pressure helps close it.
If you took your submarine, filled it with
water & hung it upside down, would this be the
same amount of force, or close to
it.
In wich case if you have a design like Franks
flying saucer that angles up to the hatch,
you'd have a lot more force acting upward on
the hatch than a K250 where the lifting force
would be spread more evenly along the
hull.
Am I thinking right?
Alan
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