Such installations provide thru-chamber con- 

 nections from the test specimen to data mon- 

 itoring equipment on the outside. Tempera- 

 tures may be lowered to those values antici- 

 pated w^ithin the vehicle's diving range and 

 scope of operations, and some, though not all, 

 can use seawater as the pressurizing me- 

 dium. 



Other pressure testing facilities are availa- 

 ble at private industry and academic institu- 

 tions, but the only two reportedly used to 

 date for submersible hulls are those of the 

 Southwest Research Institute and Perry 

 Submarine Builders (Fig. 5.22). Constructed 

 primarily for government test programs, 

 Navy test facilities may be used by private 

 industry at a cost dependent on time and 

 effort required, and on a not-to-interfere ba- 

 sis. 



PRESSURE HULL 

 MEASUREMENTS AND TESTS 



The variety and quantity of pressure hull 

 tests are quite numerous. Accompanying 

 such tests is the need for documentation and 

 recording the results. Although it is not a 

 legal requirement, most private American 

 submersible owners strive to attain classifi- 

 cation by the American Bureau of Shipping. 

 Naval submersibles have quite stringent cer- 

 tification requirements of their own. Hence, 

 the certifying or classifying authorities must 

 have written documentation of the tests and 

 their results. Prior to 1968, the submersible 

 builder had few if any guidelines to follow 

 regarding tests and documentation. In 1968 

 the Marine Technology Society published 

 Safety and Operational Guidelines for Un- 

 dersea Vehicles (3) which outlines in detail 



H)iMi!ll!lill|)!|{l^ 



Fig. 5 22 (b) A Perry-built pressure hull entering their test tank (Perry Submarine Builders) 



271 



