Conceptual Design and Optimization of Submarine Escape Capsule

Submarine escape capsule is an effective equipment to improve submariners' viability when accident. In order to design a reasonable escape system, three alternatives, sphere chamber, ellipsoid chamber and combined chamber, were presented in the conceptual design process. The factors which influenced decision making were researched subsequently, such as general performance parameters, dependence on submarine's position when releasing, safety of the product in hazardous conditions and the product's influence on submarine. Then the influenced factors and their attributes were evaluated in three alternatives, and a multiple attribute decision making approach based on entropy weight was used to optimize the conceptual design. The results showed that combined chamber was the best choice for submarine escape capsule because its overall technology level was superior to others.