Analysis on screw preload condition of acoustic beacon in high water pressure environment

Abstract

The acoustic beacon is mainly assembled by using screw thread couplings between caps and shell. The products are always affected by heavy loads when operating under high water pressure. In this paper, to investigate the influence of screw thread couplings on acoustic beacon strength under deep water condition, the structural stresses and the distributions of the acoustic beacon with different pre-tightening torque of screw thread under particular water pressure is analysed by using finite element method. The variations of stresses which is relative to the pre-tightening torque of screw thread are also analysed and proposed as the form of line chart. The results indicate that the acoustic beacon strength can be improved by increasing the pre-tightening torque of screw thread, and the line chart can be used to determine the most suitable pre-tightening torque while assembling the products.