Optimal Design of Thickness of Egg-shaped Pressure Hulls of Deep Submersibles

In order to improve the material utilization rate and safety of the egg-shaped pressure hull, the thickness of the egg-shaped pressure hull is optimized in this paper. Finite element models of the egg-shaped pressure hulls with constant thickness are generated to analyze the stress distribution of the pressure hulls. Then, the zero-order optimization method is used to change the thickness of the pressure hull under the condition of keeping the weight and volume of the structure unchanged. Fitting equations of the interior and exterior profile surface of the optimized pressure hulls are also proposed for the optimal design of the real egg-shaped pressure hulls. The maximum stress value, stress distribution, and buckling strength of the egg-shaped pressure shell structure before and after optimization are compared and analyzed, which verifies that the optimized pressure shell structure has better safety. © 2020, Editorial Office of Ship Building of China. All right reserved.