Feasibility Study for Employing Cryogenic Liquids in Salvage Buoyancy Systems at Deep Depths.

An analytical heat transfer model has been developed to predict the behavior of cryogenic liquids for possible application in ship salvage buoyancy devices at extreme ocean depths. The gasification of cryogenic liquids to produce a buoyancy gas offers a considerable propellant cost savings over other chemical gas generating methods currently being considered for large lifts at deep depths. Computations using the heat transfer model for several simulated missions indicate that the use of cryogenic liquids appears feasible for deep salvage operations because the acceptable heat loss rates from underwater dewars can be significantly higher than those normally accepted for surface dewars. Author Modified Abstract