Date of Award

5-6-2024

Degree Type

Capstone Project

First Advisor

Bahram Nassersharif

Abstract

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center has presented a project to our group, Team 07, that studies the methodology of launch of an underwater payload using the phase change of an inert compound from liquid to gas. The designed system must use the energy generated from the phase change to push the payload through the water and away from its original source.

NUWC tasked the team with fulfilling several requirements through the course of the design process. This list included such parameters as the volume of liquid used to launch the payload must be less than one-quarter the volume of the launch cylinder, the acceleration of the payload must be under 8 g’s, and the payload length must be seven-times greater than its diameter. The team took the list of requirements and created engineering and customer requirements to apply to the conceptual designs. These designs were compared not only to one another, but also previous work to further derive potential ideas. The concepts that demonstrated the highest viability were put together into three distinct final designs that would be compared using modeling and testing.

During the fall semester a prototype of the final chosen design was created to test feasibility. The prototype was made primarily of PVC pipe and utilized manufactured carbon dioxide canisters to propel the payload. Data extraction and analysis were used to analyze the feasibility of the design and future changes that need to occur.

In the following spring semester the team used all the data collected to improve upon the prior design and manufacture a final prototype of the design. This design included a solenoid for remote launch, a galvanized steel launch tube to withstand the high pressure of the system, and a custom CO2 canister that eliminated the prior problems with head loss.

Comments

Team Name: Team Tomahawk (Team 07)

Company Sponsor: Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC)

Sponsor Representative: Peter T. Phelps

Document Reference: URI-MCE-402-007-2024

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