Buckling of thick-section composite pressure hulls

DRA Dunfermline has had a continuing involvement in the development of deep diving composite pressure hulls through the NERC Autosub project and as part of the MAST II programme which culminated recently in the testing of a relatively large scale model pressure hull. This paper describes analytical models which were developed in conjunction with a series of model tests and used in the design of the large scale hull model. Comparisons between theoretical predictions and experimental data are also given. In keeping with the topic of the workshop the emphasis is on buckling with stress and failure analysis being reported more fully elsewhere. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.