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Main
Skeletal Structure
The primary spaceframe of the
Akira-class is created from an interlocking series of tritanium/duranium
alloy macrofilament truss frames. These members average 1.25
square meters in cross section and are located, on average of
every 25 meters across the ship’s exterior.
These larger trusses provide the
skeletal framework for the vast majority of major ship systems,
such as the primary and secondary impulse engines, the warp
nacelle mounts, the docking latch interfaces, and along the
centerline of the hull structure. Smaller trusses, about half the
size of the standard structural truss, are located approximately
every five meters, and provide internal and core support for the
spaceframe interior.
Attached through these networks of
trusses are a variety of mechanisms which utilize the hull for its
operation, including portions of the Deflector Shield System, as
well as the Subspace Radio antenna system.
SECONDARY HULL FRAMEWORK
Mounted to the primary spaceframe is
a secondary framework of microextruded terminium trusses to which
the inner hull structure is physically attached. This frame work
is mounted by a series of semirigid polyduranide support rods,
permitting a limited but significant amount of stress relief
during superluminal maneuvers as well as sound and vibration
isolation.
Secondary segments are separated
from each other, though still connected mechanically to the
primary spaceframe, to allow for replacement of inner hull
compartments and segments without compromising the primary
spaceframe structural integrity and making replacement at deep
space repair facilities easier and less time intensive.
The Structural Integrity Field (SIF)
is active during powered spaceflight (Impulse and Warp powered
flight), providing a series of layered force fields which
reinforce the physical framework. The SIF is distributed through a
network of molybdenum-jacketed waveguides, which in turn
distribute the SIF energy into ceramic-polymer conductive elements
throughout the spaceframe. Without the SIF, the spaceframe would
be unable to withstand accelerations greater than 7.4 m/sec^2
without significant hull deformation, or greater than 19.5 m/sec^2
without unrecoverable structural damage. This means that, without
the SIF active, the hull would begin to collapse under its own
weight within the confines of a gravity well (see section 2.4)
The exterior hull is joined to the
primary load-bearing trusses by means of a series 4cm diameter
electron-bonded duranium pins at 1.25 meter intervals. These pins
are slip fitted into an insulating AGP ceramic fabric jacket that
provides thermal and radioactive insulation between the spaceframe
and the exterior hull. The pins, jacketing and hull segments are
then gamma welded together.
Hull
Layers
The exterior shell of the spacecraft
consists of multiple layers which afford both structural and
atmospheric integrity for the spaceframe, integral waveguides and
field conductive members for the structural integrity field (SIF),
as well as pathways for other utilities (including navigational
and defensive deflector grids) and necessary resistance to
radiation and thermal energy.
The exterior shell substrate is
composed of interlaced microfoam duranium filaments. These
filaments are gamma welded into a series of contiguous composite
segments that are 5 cm. thick and are, on average, two meters
wide. The substrate segments are electron bonded to three
reinforcing layers of 1.2cm biaxially stressed tritanium fabric,
which provides additional torsion strength.
In addition to the standard duranium
hull plates, Starfleet Generation II Ablative Armor has been
installed over the entirety of the hull. See the Ablative Armor
for more details.
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