摘要：Goal based and limit state design is nowadays a well-established approach in many engineering *** construction rules started introducing such concepts since early ***,classification societies’rules do not provide hints on how to verify limit states and to determine the structural layout of submerged thin-walled stiffened cylinders,whose most prominent examples are ***,they generally offer guidance and prescriptive formulations to assess shell plating and stiffening *** marine structures are studied,designed and built up to carry payloads below the sea *** the concept-design stage,the maximum operating depth is the governing hull scantling *** dimensions are determined based on the analysis of operational *** study proposes a practical conceptdesign approach for conceptual submarine design,aimed at obtaining hull structures that maximize the payload capacity in terms of available internal volume by suitably adjusting structural layout and stiffening members’scantling,duly accounting for robustness and construction constraints as well as practical fabrication *** proposed scantling process highlights that there is no need of complex algorithms if sound engineering judgment is applied in setting down rationally the hull scantling problem.A systematic approach based on a computer-coded procedure developed on purpose was effectively implemented and satisfactorily applied in design practice.