ASME BPVC VIII-1 UG-22(g) Submarine testing vessel 1

[FoxRox]

A submarine is to be enclosed inside a larger pressure vessel. The space inside the vessel and outside the submarine is filled with water, and a hydrotest is performed to test the sub.

If the submarine implodes, what loads affect outer vessel? I am thinking of something occurring like in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xM6zdim0yk4

I believe this would fall under UG-22(g), but I do not know how to predict or quantify this effect. Even if cavitation does not occur, I think the violence of the implosion is worthy of consideration.

And beyond that, I would appreciate any other thoughts on the loadings and other design considerations for this submarine testing vessel.

FWIW, (before I get rebuked), I am anticipating the involvement of a third party in this design, as it is beyond my expertise. At this point this is just preliminary research.

 

[r6155]

@ DriveMeNuts
I was confused in my first comment and LittleInch corrected me (17 Dec 23 08:13 ): "It's the test vessel that is ASME VIII...Not the submarine"

"Please, your comments on submarine design are outside of this forum.

Yes, I have experience as an inspector of hydrostatic pressure test (including nuclear), helium vacuum leak testing, and more. Some of them with Acoustic Emission Examination.

Regards

 

[DriveMeNuts]

My comment relates closely to this thread, as it discusses how the slim design margins make failure of a vessel during the pressure testing a real possibility, and therefore endorses the OP and being a reasonable query.
As opposed your comment where you insist "it is ridiculous to consider a submarine destroyed during a pressure test". I don't understand how you can say that my comment is not relevant to the forum, while not saying the same about your own.

 

[r6155]

I'm talking about pressure test, not design.
Pressure Test of the testing vessel.

Regards

 

[DriveMeNuts]

Pressure testing of the test vessel has nothing to do with the OP.
The OP is about what happens if the submersible fails inside the test vessel.

 

[tidytext]

What is your real question?

The entire dialogue here seems like a red flag - not the right questions or response. Is there an ASME spec? No, not that I'm aware of. An implosion (which practically speaking is the same thing as an explosion underwater) is going to be more accurately modeled as explosive shock, which would be nonlinear and require specialized equipment. Maybe theres a MIL-STD you could reference but most explosive shock is better demonstrated in testing versus some specification.

The question then becomes why are you considering doing this yourself? There are plenty of places with pressure vessels you can test to a variety of depths (full ocean is harder to find and the test chambers are usually smaller). What are you hoping to achieve? If this is standard steel/aluminum, then why not just pay an established company like Prevco to do it? If you're using something goofy like carbon fiber, then you're in a different R&D ballpark and again the conversation is absurd

I am pretty sure that the people who design pressure vessels for testing equipment inside just overdesign the heck out of them and use ductile materials. There is no size weight or power limitation so why not just use a huge slab.

From my time in maritime engineering, the whole conversation is a big red flag - don't seem to be asking the right question. Intent isn't to be harsh.

If this is something you're intent on doing and it's for a school project and nothing professional, I would just wing it. The HydraulicPressChannel did a pressure test of carbon fiber tubes (not very scientific, but interesting to watch) and they got away with a pretty small test chamber.