ment or buoyancy ratio. Once a particular geometty is chosen, it then 

 remains to carry out detailed buckling and stress analyses to check the 

 adequacy of the design. 



The results of such an attempt at optimization may look like the 

 strength-weight curves presented by Buhl, Pulos, and Graner in Reference 

 64; these are reproduced here as Figure 20. It is rather obvious from 

 these curves all other considerations like fabricability, creep resistance, 

 fatigue strength, etc. being equal, what the strength potential of various 

 hull materials appears to be. Some general discussion of the materials 

 problem as such and the research programs underway to find the necessary 

 answers is given by Owen and Sorkin in Reference 5. Later investigators 

 have given some detailed consideration to both the advantages and some of 

 the apparent shortcomings of specific hull materials. Sorkin and Willner 



have examined the high- strength titanium alloys as possible hull structural 



64 

 materials, and Buhl, Pulos, and Graner examined certain possibilities 



offered by the fiber-reinforced plastics. 



In Reference 3, Wenk also presents the results of strength calculations 

 he conducted for different hull materials and for a wide range of geometry. 

 However, his curves are primarily of qualitative value because he in- 

 troduced a number of questionable approximations and simplifications to 

 make the" numerical computations tractable; it can also be said that some 

 of the design equations and criteria he used are not the most up to 43-te. 

 The same is true of a more recent paper by Gerard on the minimum- 



116 



