My estimates so far have been based on the ISO standard governing pneumatics which are the same as appear in most manufactuer's performance tables. What these companies don't provide is any justification for their values and the sums just aren't adding up.
I've tried adiabatic, polytropic and...
Not really, the skin is a flexible fabric (layers of rubber and fabric mesh). So the fender freely deflects when compressed - the load needed to do this is small compared to the load needed to compress the air. The sides do squash just like a balloon, except owing to the fabrics in the rubber...
We use big pneumatic fenders for protecting ships and structures when berthing. The example in mind is a 3.3m dia x 6.5m long unit with 20mm thick skin. They skins are aramid reinforced rubber (bit like conveyor belt constrution), flexible but non-elastic. The mid-body is cylindrical and the...
