Hull Crew
The Human Powered Submarine
Team of Virginia Tech
The major focus of the Phantom III design philosophy was to design a one-man submarine capable of breaking the existing world record speed of 7.5 knots. As the first complete hull ever constructed by the team members, there were a lot of design challenges. Phantom III is an adaptation of an independently researched laminar flow body, for minimum interior volume. Interior volume is crucial in short course racing as the several tons of water enclosed within the submarine make acceleration to target speeds very difficult for a single human propulsor. Heavy consideration was also given to minimizing surface and frontal area, to reduce drag. A model of a propulsor was created and the hull lines formed around these con-straints, as shown in the drawings below. The Hull was constructed of a divinicell foam core sandwiched between 32 oz. biaxial fiberglass.