Design of submersible vehicles in sandwich composites

Submersible vehicles in composites have higher efficiency (low weight-to-displacement ratio) than vehicles in metal materials. The sandwich shell has a high buckling resistance load due to its high stiffness. The material failure strength is predicted by applying the Cai-Wu failure criterion, and the buckling load is calculated by applying the buckling theory considering of the effects of shear deformation. The paper introduces the research of the effects of the lamination configuration and the thickness of sandwich cores on the collapse depth and also analyzes the influences of the thickness of sandwich faceplates and thickness of sandwich cores on the collapse depth. The conclusion drawn from the paper can be applied for the design of submersible vehicle.