Advanced Structural Watertight Door System

New naval ship designs will result in faster & lighter vessels manned by fewer sailors. These design changes necessitate weight savings, reduced maintenance time, and life cycle cost reductions in all shipboard components. The objective of this project is to develop a new and improved watertight door system for future and existing ships that meet these requirements. Juniper Industries has been a primary supplier of standard navy watertight doors for several decades. Here, we propose to team with Walz & Krenzer, Inc. to focus on improving the primary areas of concern on all existing standard navy watertight doors, namely the the weight, the dogging system, the sealing system, the hinging system, and the life-cycle costs. The result will be watertight doors that are lighter, more durable, require less maintenance,and that are fully watertight. In addition, it is anticipated that the new door system will have the capacity to be used with a variety of panel materials, increasing the potential for both navy and commercial watertight door applications. Phase 1 research will demonstrate the economic and technical feasibility of two new dogging, hinging, and sealing systems, as well as investigating the use of composite door panels.