Numerical Analysis Of The Carbon-Fibre Winding Pressure Vessel Using Finite Element Method

Carbon fibre-reinforced composite materials are widely applied in aerospace and civilfields due to their characteristics of high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratio, goodhigh-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance and so on. The netting theory and theclassical laminated plate theory are used to design and evaluate the carbon-fibre windingpressure vessels. The cylinder with fibre in both hoop and longitudinal orientation is designedby means of the netting theory. According to the laminated plate theory, the Tsai-Hillcriterion is applied in evaluating the strength of pressure vessel.According to DOT CFFC Standard, only considering the internal pressure, the stress andthe strain distribution of the carbon fibre winding pressure vessels under different internalload conditions are studied with the MSC. Patran/Marc FEA software. Based on the elasticplastic theory, the appropriate autofrettage pressure is determined with the numericalcalculation using the finite element method. Some problems were analyzed, such as the wrapangle in the helical layers influencing to the burst pressure and the ratio of the strengthtransfer of the fibre. The results of numerical calculation indicate that the largest hoop strainoccurs in the middle and the low-necked of composite vessel, while the low-neckeddeformation is not obvious. The autofrettage pressure design can effectively decrease thestress level of the aluminum liner in the work condition and increase the fatigue life of thecomposite overwrapped pressure vessels.The hydrostatical and bursting pressures of the random-access vessels were tested. Thetest results satisfy the engineering requirements. It shows that the design proposal isreasonable and reliable. The numerical calculations agree well with the test results.