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An improvement to the thin walled tank in the higher load region is developed by the addition of a prestressed jettisonable shell. Capability of the tank includes post-wrinkling strength in bending. Comparison is made with an efficiently stiffened tank, using for example a liquid hydrogen tank 10 ft in diameter. The results of the study show the total effective weight of the minimum gage pressurized tank with a prestressed jettisonable insulating shell to be less than one-half the weight of an insulated stiffened tank for a wide range of loading.

In order to utilize liquid hydrogen efficiently as a fuel for hypersonic cruise vehicles, it is necessary to design an optimum weight tank of high structural reliability. The structural design, analysis, and testing aspects of such a liquid hydrogen tank are discussed. The tank was required to occupy an elliptic space envelope and be allowed to buckle elastically under inertia loading and the effect of temperature gradients. The support system minimizes load deflection and thermal deformation interaction between tank and vehicle. The tank must meet burst pressures of 60 psi and yet be stable for certain loading conditions with negligible internal pressure.