Bulkhead (partition)

During the 15th century sailors and builders in Europe realized that walls within a vessel would prevent cargo from shifting during passage.

By the Athenian trireme era (500 BC),[1] the hull was strengthened by enclosing the bow behind the ram, forming a bulkhead compartment.

The 5th-century book Garden of Strange Things by Liu Jingshu mentioned that a ship could allow water to enter the bottom without sinking.

[3][4] Texts written by writers such as Marco Polo (1254–1324), Ibn Battuta (1304–1369), Niccolò Da Conti (1395–1469), and Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) describe the bulkhead partitions of East Asian shipbuilding.

[6] As wood began to be replaced by iron in European ships in the 18th century, new structures, like bulkheads, started to become prevalent.

On passenger aircraft a common application is for physically dividing cabins used for different classes of service (e.g. economy and business.)

On combination cargo/passenger, or "combi" aircraft, bulkhead walls are inserted to divide areas intended for passenger seating and cargo storage.

The term is also used to refer to large retroactively installed pressure barriers for temporary or permanent use, often during maintenance or construction activities.