dep@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (David Pugh) (10/09/89)
From: dep@ius3.ius.cs.cmu.edu (David Pugh)
Anyone know whether using plastic to build a submarine hull has been
considered? It would seem to have several advantages:
o Most plastics dampen sound much better than metal.
o Reduced MAD signature.
o If the plastic were clear, it could be optically checked for defects.
o You could have portholes (this isn't purely ascetic -- lidar & light
amplification could be used for obstacle avoidance, tracking, etc.).
On the down side, though, a plastic hull would have to be much thicker than a
metal one (then again, plastic is lighter) and it would be hard (impossible?)
to "cast" a submarine-size hull as a single piece.
--
... He was determined to discover the David Pugh
underlying logic behind the universe. ...!seismo!cmucspt!ius3!dep
Which was going to be hard, because
there wasn't one. _Mort_, Terry Pratchett