Question

You are living in a habitat on Mars that has a cylindrical entrance/exit that is pressurized only when needed. You’d like this airlock to have infinite life at 99% reliability. The dimensions are: 8ft diameter, 6ft length. Determine the required wall thickness if we use aluminum 6061 with Sf = 18 ksi at 10^8 cycles and Sut = 45 ksi. The external pressure on Mars is about 0.087 psi, and the interior of the airlock must meet Earth’s atmospheric pressure of 14.69 psi. This problem is in no way related to the plot of The Martian.

Answer 1