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Hello
psubbers, I’ve got
another mechanical engineering question for you: I’ve been
trying to think of a way to simplify the internal bracing on a cylindrical
pressure hull. The “T” rings that
are commonly used for internal stiffening seem to be a difficult part to make
and I can’t find a good (cheap) source for them. There are plenty of fabricators that would love to make
several of them when I’m ready but the cost for this is greater than the total
cost of a rolled cylinder and the endcap / bulkheads (which I can fab
myself). I could reduce cost by
cutting small sections of the “flat ring” portion out of sheet steel, and try
to roll the bands myself but this is going to take a lot of cutting, welding
and piecing together. I think the
total strength of a pieced together T-stiffener would be compromised as well. Has anyone
ever run the majority of internal bracing lengthwise through a cylinder? Since the main portion of the pressure
hull is a straight cylinder, it would be pretty easy to run some ordinary
channel or angle iron the length of the cylinder. Spaced about a foot apart and with internal bulkheads spaced
at reasonable distances (for example, one bulkhead centered in a 48” OD by 96”
long cylinder), I think this would be as strong as T-rings spaced every
foot. It would be much easier to build
and weld, should reduce flexing and twisting, and would make length wise tubing
and wiring runs tuck away a little neater. Thoughts? Thanks and Kind
Regards, Cliff
McDonald |