Objective
The objectives of this proposal are:
- to advance European capability in the design and fabrication of pressureresistant structures using fibre reinforced plastics (FRP), for applications in the ocean which include autonomous vehicles, benthic landers, drifting floats and instrument housings.
- to demonstrate this by producing an all-FRP structure having a 2000 metres operational depth capability. Chosen focus is a pressure hull for an autonomous underwater vehicle (A W).
- to establish the long term integrity of FRP structures in the working environment.
- thereby to promote the application of weight- and cost- efficient FRP structures in future industrial applications in the deep oceans. A key role is envisaged for light, strong FRP materials as enabling technology for future EC FRAMEWORK R&D, international operational programmes such as GOOS, and from wider commercial application of these materials in activities linked to resource exploitation. This has been recognised by the inclusion of generic research on composite materials in EC BRITE-EURAM, EUCLID and MAST I and II programmes. Building on this, the project proposed will advance the state of the art well beyond the hitherto empirical approach to the design of thick section structures and their presently limited application at depth in the oceans.
The first stage will set functional and physical requirements for the demonstrator hull and will make full use of the knowledge acquired in earlier programmes to select and characterise materials. The subsequent design process requires numerical modelling of the cylindrical form and of the domed end closures, which represent a particular innovation. Attention will be paid to the critical interface region between the cylindrical hull and the dome end closure. Validation of the design will be carried out experimentally on small scale cylinders equipped with appropriate closures. The information so derived will be used in the final design of the full sized (0.45m internal dia. x 1.25m) demonstrator hull. Three demonstrator hulls will be fabricated, with two tested to collapse in order to verify design computations. The third demonstrator and a set of small test cylinders will be subjected to a long term stability test for a minimum of a year at a deep (2000m) water site. This addresses a serious gap in the knowledge of the long term integrity of FRP structures subjected to hydrostatic pressure. This will provide a unique data set, invaluable for future design decisions, and will help to establish the reliability of this type of housing for future benthic application. From the combination of theoretical and experimental work in the project a design methodology will be synthesised, with the aim of providing predictable performance from FRP structures when used within a specified performance envelope in the deep ocean. Finally, the anticipated capabilities of technology against future industrial requirements in deep water intervention will be appraised and the industrial procurement examined through a subsequent EUROMAR project.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringautomotive engineeringautonomous vehicles
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcomposites
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsfluid statics
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Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
KY11 2XR Dunfermline
United Kingdom