Source | Composite Advantage
Infrastructure maintenance posed challenges for U.S. Naval Base Guam (NBG) due to lack of services and support on the tiny western Pacific island. NBG handles submarine deployment for the 7th fleet and is home port to four Los Angeles-class attack submarines. External flotation structures called camels prevent damage to vessels and port structures when submersibles are berthed or moored, but conventional materials make them prone to high maintenance and frequent replacement. NBG found a solution with Composite Advantage’s (Dayton, Ohio, U.S.) corrosion-resistant, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite universal submarine camels (see more on the camels’ composite design).
“Metal and wood camels require removal every two years for inspection and repair which can be costly if corrosion has set in,” says Scott Reeve, marketing director for Composite Advantage, which is now part of the Creative Composites Group. “Poor durability was another problem. The FRP universal composite camel is corrosion resistant to salt water and chemicals, requires no maintenance, reduces life cycle costs and can accommodate any class of submarine.”
Source | Composite Advantage
A set of two FRP camels — 36 feet long, 18 feet high and 17 feet deep, weighing 70,000 pounds — each were fabricated in Composite Advantage’s Dayton, Ohio factory and shipped to Whittier, California in December 2019. The camels traveled 6,111 miles by ship to Guam, arriving January 13, 2020. Assembled at a Guam shipyard, the two camels were set in the water and tugged to the naval base where they were moored to the pier ready for use. Composite Advantage has been designing and fabricating FRP universal camels for the Navy since 2013.
Related Content
-
Partners recycle A350 composite production waste into adjustable-length rods for MFFD
Herone, Spiral RTC, Teijin Carbon Europe and Collins Aerospace Almere recycle A350 thermoplastic composite clips/cleats waste into rods for the all-thermoplastic composite Multifunctional Fuselage Demonstrator’s crown.
-
TPI manufactures all-composite Kenworth SuperTruck 2 cab
Class 8 diesel truck, now with a 20% lighter cab, achieves 136% freight efficiency improvement.
-
Recycling end-of-life composite parts: New methods, markets
From infrastructure solutions to consumer products, Polish recycler Anmet and Netherlands-based researchers are developing new methods for repurposing wind turbine blades and other composite parts.