A new watertight interior door being evaluated for the Navy…

A new watertight interior door being evaluated for the Navy supercarrier
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) incorporates advances in materials, design,
and manufacturing processes. The new doors are 27% lighter than the
existing Navy standard watertight doors (NSWDs). The cellular sandwich
panels in the new doors are made from corrosion-resistant steel using highly
accurate, high-speed, automated laser cutting and welding processes. Novel
technologies were used to produce the door seals and latching mechanism,
and the plug-in-hole installation process reduces distortion.

NSWDs, designed in the early 1950s, are expensive to install and maintain
and are too heavy for today's needs. Installation costs are about $7,500 per
door, and watertight doors require frequent maintenance because of poor
functioning, corrosion, and loss of water-tightness.

The new doors have the needed stability, but their reduced weight allows
more weight to be allocated to armor, ordinance, cargo, and other
warfighting-related functions. Low distortion plug-in-hole installation
reduces the installation and maintenance costs. The use of a more corrosion-resistant steel, combined
with reasonable manufacturing costs, will reduce the total ownership costs, making these resources
available for other uses.

The new door was designed at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory, and private companies have
built prototypes. The prototype doors are undergoing hydrostatic, shock and cyclic testing. Northrop
Grumman Newport News (NGNN) will document installation costs and investigate ways of reducing
those costs. Manufacturing specifications for an optimized design will be submitted to the Navy for
potential acquisition at the end of the project.

On this project, ARL Penn State's Institute for Manufacturing and Sustainment Technologies (iMAST)
is teamed with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, for Navy in-service experience
and their expertise in functional and performance requirements of watertight doors, and with NGNN
for their expertise in door installation and shipbuilder requirements.

Specifications:

New Door Weight            213 pounds                   Pressure capacity      15 psi
Existing NSWD Weight       292 pounds                   Overload               1.5
Dimensions                 26 inches x 66 inches        New Door Material      304 stainless steel
Latches                    8 latching dogs              NSWD Material          A-36 low carbon steel
Window                     6 inch diameter