Contents

Introduction
Types of submarines
Pleasure Submarine
Scientific submarines
Military submarines
Propulsion System
Diesel-electric
Nuclear Power
Alternative propulsion
Design of Submarines
Parts of a Submarine
Outer Hull and Pressure Hull
Main Ballast Tanks
Sail or Bridge Fin
Control Surfaces
General Arrangement of a Submarine
Structure Design of a Submarine
Stability of Submarine
Diving and Surfacing of Submarines
Surface Stability of Submarines7
Submerged Stability of Submarines
 Longitude stability
Transverse stability
Different Systems on a Submarine
Conclusion
References

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Introduction
Submarines are underwater self-propelled crafts that are designed and built to
perform underwater operations, Submarine design consists of a single or double
hull system.
This is a very simple description of a very complex engineering product, which
are used for a wide range of purposes such as underwater research, underwater
rescue, and submarine warfare.

Types of submarines
Pleasure Submarine
Pleasure submarines are generally very small and expensive, used by the rich people to
admire marine life.

Scientific submarines
Scientific submarines are used to investigate the bottom of oceans or lakes and bring
back biological samples.
One of the most popular scientific submarines is “DSV Alvin”.

Military submarines
Military submarines are used for naval wars, recon, and to hold nuclear weaponry,
making up an essential node of the nuclear chord.
One example would be the “American Seawolf” class submarine, which has a
displacement of 8,000 tons, length of 353 ft (107 m), width of 40 ft (12 m), and, due to
its nuclear power plant, a range limited only by the food supplies and sanity of the crew.
These submarines can go anywhere on Earth where the World Ocean stretches,
including the water underneath the floating ice of the North Pole.

Propulsion System
Diesel-electric:
the submarine's diesel would drive a generator which could either charge the
submarine's batteries or drive the electric motor. Either way, the submarine would
have to surface daily to get oxygen for fuel combustion underwater or to charge
the batteries before diving back.

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Nuclear Power:
Nuclear-powered submarines have a relatively small battery and diesel
engine/generator power plant for emergency use if the reactors must be shut down.
Nuclear power is now used in all large submarines. The single biggest advantage with
nuclear-powered submarines is that they continue to function submerged for months
without ever having to surface.

Alternative propulsion:
Oil-fired steam turbines powered the British submarines, built during the First World
War and later, to give them the surface speed to keep up with the battle fleet. some
submarines, such as the British Vanguard class, began to be fitted with pump-jet
propulsions instead of propellers. Pump-jet is a marine system that creates a jet of
water for propulsion.

Design of Submarines
Parts of a Submarine:

Outer Hull and Pressure Hull:

Most designs of submarines have two hulls.

The pressure hull is the hull that houses all the accommodation spaces, weapons,
weapon control systems, communications and control room, battery banks, main and
auxiliary machinery, it is called the pressure hull because it is designed to withstand the
hydrostatic pressure at the maximum operable depth of the submarine.

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 The pressure hull is housed inside the outer hull, which is not pressure tight. Why?
Because, in submerged condition, the spaces between the outer and the inner hull
always remain flooded with sea water. Hence, the hydrostatic pressure on the outer
hull is negligible.

Main Ballast Tanks (MBTs):

Now, the “floodable” spaces are compartmentalized into tanks, which in submarine
terminology, are called Main Ballast Tanks. The distribution of main ballast tanks in a
submarine depends on the shape and interaction of the outer and pressure hull, some
designs have MBTs only at the forward and aft regions, and the rest of the pressure hull
is flushed with the outer hull. Other designs have completely different outer and
pressure hull, with space for ballast between them.

Sail or Bridge Fin:

The sail is the streamlined shaped non-pressure resistant part of the submarine over
the outer hull. Its different types of masts that are deployed from within the submarine
when snorkels or sails just under the free surface. The different masts used in a
submarine are periscope mast, communications mast, radar mast, weapon sensor mast,
etc. These are raised from the bridge fin when the submarine requires surface
monitoring in stealth mode.

The profile of the bridge fin in a submarine design is always an aerofoil shape, as it acts
as a hydrofoil with the submarine sails with just the fin above water. This shape reduces
the drag on the submarine. It is very important to keep the drag within limits as it
prevents eddies and subsequently, minimizes the acoustic signature of the submarine.

Control Surfaces:

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 When the submarine is in submerged condition, changes in direction and depth is
carried out by use of hydroplanes that act as control surfaces. To understand the
application of hydroplanes, we first need to know the nature of motions experienced
by a submarine in submerged condition. Unlike a surface ship, submarines are subjected
to lesser heave and pitch motions due to absence of surface wave effects. A pair of
hydroplanes or fins at the forward and aft are used to control the heave and pitch
independently.
Two hydroplanes mounted at the aft in the vertical plane are used to change the lateral
direction of the submarine when in motion. These are basically called rudders. Do note
that unlike ships, the rudders of a submarine are forward of the propeller. Why?
Because in case of a ship, the rudder requires the propeller outflow for maximum lift
efficiency. But in a submarine, since the entire hull is submerged, undisturbed
streamlined flow is incident onto the rudder surface. If the submarine rudder were
placed aft of the propeller, the flow onto the rudder would be more turbulent,
increasing the probability of cavitation.
One important thing to note is, hydroplanes operate at optimum efficiency only at high
speeds.

General Arrangement of a Submarine:

The forward part of the pressure hull houses the weapon systems and sensors. The
sensors are usually housed in the flooded space between the forward of the pressure
hull and the outer hull.
The weapon system includes the torpedo tubes which house the torpedoes, torpedo
launching system, and torpedo operating tanks. The forward most part of the pressure
hull is used to store the weapons.

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Structure Design of a Submarine
Structural design always begins with the process of identifying the loads that the
structure would be subjected to. The loads on a submarine during its mission can be
classified into the following:

1. Loading Due to Diving Pressure:

Depth is one of the most important and deciding structural design criteria.
2. Shock Loads:
A submarine is designed to withstand the loads generated by underwater
detonations (for example, mine explosions, pressures generated by bursting of
large underwater gas bubbles).
3. Other Loads:
Like a surface ship, a submarine in surfaced condition is subjected to
longitudinal bending loads, transverse shear forces on transverse structures,
and torsional loads caused due to wave action.

The pressure hull of submarines can be stiffened either internally or externally. But
external stiffening is ore preferable due to the following reasons:

1. It has been observed that external stiffeners of the same scantling as that of internal
stiffeners, provide 5 percent more strength than the latter.
2. Since external stiffening occupies the space between the pressure hull and outer
hull, a lot of usable space can be obtained within the pressure hull.

But some designs, especially where the pressure hull is itself the outer hull for most part
of the submarine’s length, internal stiffening remains the only option.

Figure 1:

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Stability of Submarine
The most unique feature of submarine design stability is that unlike ships, submarine
stability is studied at two conditions:

 Surfaced Stability (when part of the submarine is above the waterline), and
 Submerge Stability (when the submarine is completely submerged, and no
part or appendages are above the waterline).

Diving and Surfacing of Submarines

For a submarine to surface from that depth, it first uses its hydroplanes to reduce its
depth up to 3 to 4 meters below waterline. Once it cruises at that depth, high pressure
air at approximately 15 bar is introduced into the tank through the air valve. The air
pushes the water out of the tank through the flood ports. Once this weight is lost, the
submarine is now positively buoyant and rises to surfaced condition.

Surface Stability of Submarines

A submarine in surfaced condition must satisfy the same stability principles as that of a
surfaced ship. The primary requirement in surfaced condition is that, it should remain
afloat even after any kind of damage. Which means, there should be a significant
volume of the hull above the waterline. This is called the Reserve of Buoyancy (ROB).

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Submerged Stability of Submarines:

 Longitude stability:
The first property of a submerged submarine is its ability to execute motions in all six
degrees of freedom. unlike an Aeroplan, a submarine does not depend on forward
motion to support its weight. The fins on a submarine are only used to invoke lift forces
that help it to alter depth. But a submarine can remain static in a submerged condition
without any forward motion, and without the help of its fins.
the weight-buoyancy relation maintained in submarines. When the weight of the
submarine is more than the buoyancy, it sinks until any corrective action is taken to
reduce the weight or increase the buoyancy. This condition is called Negatively
Buoyant. Similarly, when the weight is less than the buoyancy, the submarine is said to
be Positively Buoyant, and floats up until corrective action is taken to increase the
weight. But all submarines in submerged condition operate on a condition that lies
between the above two, such that the weight and buoyancy are always equal. The
submarine, in this condition, is called Neutrally Buoyant.

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Transverse stability:
The transverse stability criteria of a submarine changes significantly in submerged
condition. Since any angle of heel in a submerged submarine does not cause a change
in the underwater volume, the center of buoyancy remains unchanged.

Different Systems on a Submarine

 Propulsion system
 Diving and surfacing system
 Power generation and distribution system
 Compressed air system
 Hydraulic system
 Steering control system
 Air conditioning a ventilation system
 Shafting systems (a subsystem of main propulsion system)
 Water cooling system
 Garbage treatment and ejector plant
 Diesel air intake and exhaust system
 Fire-fighting system
 Centralized lubrication system
 List and trim management system
 Missile and torpedo firing system
 Depth gauging and echo sounding system
 Radar and Sonar systems
 Radiation monitoring system
 Pressure hull insulation system

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Conclusion
Submarines are underwater self-propelled crafts used for a wide range of purposes such
as underwater research, underwater rescue, and submarine warfare. Unlike surfaced
ship submarines contains different systems, require submerged stability, design criteria
and different construction.

References
Burcher, L. J. (1994). Concepts in Submarine Design.

Chakraborty, S. (n.d.). Retrieved from MarineInsight: https://www.marineinsight.com/naval-

architecture/understanding-stability-submarine/

Fontenoy, P. E. (2007). Submarines.

Gabler, U. (1986). Submarine Design.

Various Kinds of Navy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/info_8122586_various-

kinds-navy-ships.html

What are the different Types of Submarines? (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.innovateus.net/transportation/what-are-different-types-submarines

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