A submarine is a self-propelling craft that is designed to work underwater and Complete various operations.
Submarine designs can have a single or double-hull system that contains all the important systems and manpower to complete their missions.
Unlike ships, submarines travel smoothly underwater, and It can be powered by a nuclear reactor or fuel to propel them.
Working & Design Principles of submarines
The submarine works very (differently) than other crafts. It operates using the principle of buoyancy by Archimedes.
“Archimedes’ principle states that the upward buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a fluid, whether fully or partially, is proportional to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces.”
This buoyant force acts in the upward direction at the center of the mass of the fluid displaced.
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In a submarine, the equipment is not generally mounted on the pressure hull and elastic mounting system because it increases its vibration.
Suspended platforms and cradles are used to fit these requirements.
A submarine mainly consists of the following components.
- Pressure hull
- Planes
- Ballast tanks
- Engine
- Tower
- Navigation systems
- Life-support systems
Apart from these components, Sonar is the system that plays the primary role in navigating the submarine.
It is an eye for submarine during underwater operations.
Some subsystems’ primary role is to detect any passive or active mode, localize, track, and avoid any obstacle.
How does a submarine work?
Using the Archimedes principles, the buoyancy is controlled on the submarine by ballast tanks.
Submarine resting on the surface is less dense than water; that means it has positive buoyancy, and it will float. In this condition, the ballast tanks are full of air.
In order to submerge the submarine, it should be made less dense than water. Thus negative buoyancy is generated by venting out the air from the ballast tanks.
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The seawater comes into the tanks through flood ports and forces the air out; thus, the submarine starts to sink.
The depth of the submarine is controlled by controlling
the ratio of water to air in the ballast tank.
Moreover, a submarine can get neutral buoyancy when its weight is equal to the amount of water it displaces. In this case, the submarine will neither sink nor rise.
To get the submarine to rise again on the water’s surface, the air is blown into the ballast tanks, forcing seawater out, hence gaining positive buoyancy.
How does its propelling system work?
Nuclear submarines use steam turbines and a nuclear reactor to provide drive in their propeller shaft.
Electric power is also used to operate the equipment; however, batteries are used to store electric power and get charged from the diesel engine.
A nuclear submarine has the advantage of remaining submerged for a longer time than diesel submarines. A diesel engine requires air to work, which is only available at the water surface.
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