Abstract
Nowadays composite materials are used in many different applications, such as aerospace, automotive, sport, energy due to their superior material properties in terms of high strength to weight ratio, high corrosion resistance, and great damage tolerance. One important component produced from these composite materials is pressure vessels that are generally exposed to internal pressure loading. Mechanical performance of the pressure vessel directly depends on various parameters such as material properties or winding angle etc. However, it is well known that the material properties of composites are generally dispersed. The main concern of this study is to investigate the mechanical performance of a filament wound pressure vessel in terms of first ply failure (FPF) and burst pressure under internal pressure loading taking into account uncertainty of material properties and winding angles for different layers. The distributions for each material property were found by material characterization tests and goodness-of-fit test. The winding angle was selected as a random variable. Different statistical distribution types were compared to show the effect of distribution type. Monte Carlo Simulation (MC) was performed to predict the distribution function of the mechanical response. Finite element analysis was performed to obtain stress distribution of the pressure vessel. Both stochastic FPF and burst pressure predictions were verified by test results. Also, the finite element analysis was verified by strain gauge measurements that were located on the different regions of pressure vessel. The study was performed for two different ambient temperature to show the effect of different temperatures on the material properties for composite materials. Effects of each selected parameters on the FPF and burst pressure were discussed. Probabilistic analysis showed the importance of considering the uncertainty of material properties and the winding angle to predict the mechanical performance of composite pressure vessels.
