JAMSTEC Seeds Catalog

Pressure vessel for deep sea exploration that can withstand stress concentration

In deep-sea exploration activities, some exploration equipment is stored in a pressure vessel and used in the deep sea at a depth of 1000 m or more. A p pressure vessel made of metal such as titanium alloy or ceramics has been proposed in which hemispherical end plate portions are brought into contact with both ends of a tubular body portion, and flange portions thereof are brought into contact with each other, and joined by bolts and nuts. However, since the shape of the tubular body portion that is the first outer shell member and the shape of the hemispherical end plate portion that is the second outer shell member are different, the water pressure applied to the body portion and the end plate portion differs in deep sea. When each member is made of the same material, the deformation of each member is different, so that the connection portion is likely to be damaged due to stress concentration. The present invention is a pressure vessel 1 developed to solve these problems, and has the following configuration.
1) The first outer shell member 2 made of a cylindrical member.
2) Second outer shell member 3 whose shape is a substantially hemisphere is connected to both ends of the first outer shell member in a state where the first outer shell member has an axis line in common and is arranged so as to be convex in a direction away from the first outer shell member.
3) Young's modulus E2 of the base material forming the second outer shell member is smaller than Young's modulus E1 of the base material forming the first outer shell member (E2<E1).
4) The thickness of the second outer shell member is thicker than the thickness of the first outer shell member.

Deep-sea research, manned diving research vessels, unmanned exploration vehicles, submarine observation equipment, Argo floats