A Quick and Practical Approach for Concept-design of Submerged Thin-walled Stiffened Cylinders

Goal based and limit state design is nowadays a well-established approach in many engineering fields.Ship construction rules started introducing such concepts since early 2000.However,classification societies’rules do not provide hints on how to verify limit states and to determine the structural layout of submerged thin-walled stiffened cylinders,whose most prominent examples are submarines.Rather,they generally offer guidance and prescriptive formulations to assess shell plating and stiffening members.Such marine structures are studied,designed and built up to carry payloads below the sea surface.In the concept-design stage,the maximum operating depth is the governing hull scantling parameter.Main dimensions are determined based on the analysis of operational requirements.This study proposes a practical conceptdesign approach for conceptual submarine design,aimed at obtaining hull structures that maximize the payload capacity in terms of available internal volume by suitably adjusting structural layout and stiffening members’scantling,duly accounting for robustness and construction constraints as well as practical fabrication issues.The proposed scantling process highlights that there is no need of complex algorithms if sound engineering judgment is applied in setting down rationally the hull scantling problem.A systematic approach based on a computer-coded procedure developed on purpose was effectively implemented and satisfactorily applied in design practice.

Chatter stability and precision during high-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting of a thin-walled titanium cylinder

Titanium alloys are widely used in the aviation and aerospace industries due to their unique mechanical and physical properties.Specifically,thin-walled titanium(Ti)cylinders have received increasing attention for their applications as rocket engine casings,aircraft landing gear,and aero-engine hollow shaft due to their observed improvement in the thrust-to-weight ratio.However,the conventional cutting(CC)process is not appropriate for thin-walled Ti cylinders due to its low thermal conductivity,high strength,and low stiffness.Instead,high-speed ultrasonic vibration cutting(HUVC)assisted processing has recently proved highly effective for Ti-alloy machining.In this study,HUVC technology is employed to perform external turning of a thinwalled Ti cylinder,which represents a new application of HUVC.First,the kinematics,tool path,and dynamic cutting thickness of HUVC are evaluated.Second,the phenomenon of mode-coupling chatter is analyzed to determine the effects and mechanism of HUVC by establishing a critical cutting thickness model.HUVC can increase the critical cutting thickness and effectively reduce the average cutting force,thus reducing the energy intake of the system.Finally,comparison experiments are conducted between HUVC and CC processes.The results indicate that the diameter error rate is 10%or less for HUVC and 51%for the CC method due to a 40%reduction in the cutting force.In addition,higher machining precision and better surface roughness are achieved during thin-walled Ti cylinder manufacturing using HUVC.