Analytical Failure Prediction of

Spherical Composite Pressure

C. E. Knight
Associate Professor Mechanical Engineering,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Vessels
and State University,
The geometrical complexity of winding patterns for fiber composite spherical
Blacksburg, Va. 24061
pressure vessels has most often resulted in design and analysis based on use of
assumed spherical symmetry. Development of computer programs for detailed
geometrical description of the fabricated structure winding pattern provides the
data needed to perform a finite element analysis and make design improvements.
Stress distributions are evaluated by the Weibull statistical failure theory and a
failure pressure is predicted. Selected results for a specific case are presented.

Introduction
Spherical pressure vessels with high strength-to-weight side-by-side circumferential wind of the fiber strand to the
ratios may be readily produced by filament winding with a required band width.
variety of winding patterns. Vessel designs are usually Two data preprocessors are used to help prepare the finite
developed assuming a pseudo-isotropic composite. The element input. A mesh generation program calculates the set
patterns are relatively complex geometries and not easily of node and element data for the model. A winding pattern
analyzed to provide guidance for pattern design im- simulation program produces a composite thickness profile
provements. An analytical technique is needed to examine in and fiber angles throughout the pattern.
mathematical detail the geometry and stress distributions in A conventional mesh generation program produced the
the pattern. The finite element method offers the technique mesh shown in Fig. 2 with an inset of the composite, liner and
provided the material elastic response can be described fill tube junction. The model shown is of a high pressure
throughout the structure. vessel manufactured for the Sandia National Laboratory-
Filament wound pressure vessels of cylindrical and Albuquerque [6] by the Union Carbide Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant.
spherical shape have been designed and fabricated for many The composite is Kevlar 49/epoxy, the liner is copper and the
years. Design and analysis methods for spherical vessels have fill tube is stainless steel. The liner and fill tube design
been reported by researchers [1-3]. However these methods
have essentially treated the wound composite as pseudo-
isotropic in the tangent plane and have used properties FILL TUBE
averaged through the wall thickness.
This paper presents the results of mathematical simulation
of the delta-axisymmetric winding pattern [4] using computer CCWOSITE
programs which define the pattern and material response and
provide input for a finite element analysis program. The
Weibull [5] statistical failure theory is incorporated into the
finite element program and provides a prediction of the burst
pressure. Selected results from a typical analysis are used to
evaluate the overall effectiveness of this approach.

Winding Pattern Modeling

The general design features of a metal lined filament wound
vessel are illustrated in Fig. 1. A metal liner is employed as a
form for the winding and, more importantly, contains the
pressurized liquid or gas. A fill tube is attached to the liner.
The composite in the delta-axisymmetric winding pattern is
made up of a multitude of parallel fiber bands. Each band is a

Contributed by the Pressure Vessels and Piping Division for publication in

the JOURNAL OF PRESSURE VESSEL TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received at ASME Fig. 1 Cutaway of the delta-axisymmetric pattern on a spherical metal
Headquarters, April 13, 1982. liner

Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology AUGUST 1982, Vol. 104/229

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Fig. 2 Finite element model of a high-pressure spherical vessel
dimensions provide most of the geometric boundaries of the
model with the pattern simulation program supplying the
outer profile of the composite.
The pattern simulation program develops from a
mathematical pattern definition. Assuming a smoothed
axisymmetric distribution of bands in a band set allows
consideration of a typical band of each set. The band location
coordinates and spherical geometry are used to determine
coverage thickness and fiber orientations of all specified
latitudes. Details of the geometric simulation are reported by
Knight [7]. Accumulated thickness for all the band sets
provide the overall thickness profile. At each latitude the fiber
orientation, /3 in the tangential plane is also calculated. These
calculations carried out for all band sets give the thickness
profile for use in mesh generation and a fiber orientation map
of the pattern used to wind the sphere. The fiber orientation
map is used to select the material type assigned to each
element. The integers in the map are f3 values rounded to the
nearest degree. This integer value selects for each element the
material property set from a set of 90 materials derived by
transformation of unidirectional properties.
Weibull Statistical Failure Theory
One of the most important evaluation criteria for a com-
posite pressure vessel is its failure or burst pressure. The stress
distributions that exist within a structure analyzed by the
finite element method within themselves do not provide a
means for predicting this burst pressure. A failure criterion
must be employed to evaluate the overall stress distribution in
a manner which predicts the failure level. The Weibull
statistical failure theory [5] has been employed by several
investigators [8-11] to predict the failure of "brittle"
materials under varying stress fields. The form of the
statistical failure theory is given by
'—{-rai CD
230/Vol. 104, AUGUST 1982
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5 2070
4 1700
3 1340
2 980
1 620
0 260
STRESS CONTOURS,MPA
Fig. 3 Composite fiber stress in the tangential plane
where, Ps is the probability of survival, au is the threshold
stress level, a0 is the scale parameter, and m is the Weibull
exponent. This equation applies to a uniformly stressed
material volume. The probability of survival of this specimen
is given for any applied stress level, a, when the parameters of
the Weibull distribution are known. The Weibull exponent,
m, is the most significant of the distribution parameters. This
exponent is related to the material variability. A low
variability of material failure strengths corresponds to a high
value of m. A set of experimental data for a test specimen may
be used to establish the Weibull parameters, a„, a0 and m for
that material volume. For specimens of different material
volume, scaling equations [9] can relate the distribution
parameters assuming the exponent, m, is constant.
If the stress is allowed to vary within the volume of a large
structure its overall Ps would be the product of the Ps for all
elemental volumes. If the stress within each elemental volume
is assumed to be uniform as in a typical simple element of a
finite element program, then the overall Ps is expressed as
Ps2 = exp <
a
»-°">(vt)
"o\
m (2)
where subscript 2 refers to the structure and subscript 1 refers
to a test specimen used to establish distribution parameters.
The summation of exponential values is carried out over the
total number of finite elements in the structure model. When
the summation or integral gives a value for Ps of 0.5, then the
average burst pressure of the vessel is predicted. In a finite
element analysis this summation is computed for each step of
a multiple load step analysis. The point within a load step at
which Ps becomes 0.5 can be interpolated to yield the
predicted failure level.
The Kevlar 49/epoxy composite material used in this
specific case of analysis had parameters established from a set
of undirectional wound rings. These rings were
hydrostatically tested to failure and the experimental data
were used in an optimization search program [9] which
minimized the function for Maximum Liklihood Estimates of
Transactions of the ASME

PREDICTED
FAILURE
PRESSURE.,
400 MPA
INTERNAL PRESSURE, MPA
Fig. 4 Predicted failure pressure based on the Weibull integral
the parameters. The parameter values derived were au = 0.0,
a0 = 1850 MPa and m = 20.7. This value of au = 0.0 is
typical for fiber-resin composites and this reduces the Weibull
distribution to a two parameter form which is more com-
monly used.
Results
The fiber direction stress generally controls the ultimate
failure level. The fiber stress contour plot is shown in Fig. 3.
This plot represents the stresses computed on the sixth and
final load step of a elastoplastic analysis up to 410 MPa in-
ternal pressure. Elastic properties of the composite are
modified by the "crazed" condition of the structure and the
liner is treated as elastoplastic. The highest contour level
indicated is 2070 MPa. The average tensile strength of a ring
specimen is 1830 MPa and the average composite tensile
strength of a strand specimen is 2550 MPa. Thus the
prediction of failure by maximum stress failure theory is
difficult to apply. It is apparent that the structure being a very
thick wall vessel has a very significant thick wall effect in that
the fiber stresses on the outer surface are much lower than on
the inner surface.
For this multiple load step analysis, the value of the
Weibull integral or summation given in equation (2) is plotted
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in Fig. 4 for the last three load steps of the analysis. When the
integral reaches a value of In 0.5, then the Ps of the vessel is
0.5, which locates the average burst pressure prediction. From
the figure this gives a predicted failure pressure of 400 MPa.
The manufactured vessels reported by Guess and Gerstle [6]
have two data points thus far for the design analyzed in this
paper. One vessel had a liner leak occur at 365 M Pa and the
second vessel burst at 370 MPa.
Conclusions
9
Mathematical simulation of delta-axisymmetric patterns on
filament wound spheres is shown to be an effective approach
for analysis of such vessels.
• The Weibull statistical failure theory accounts for localized
high stress regions in the pattern and produces an integrated
effect which yields a good prediction of failure pressure in the
vessel.
References
1 Gerstle, F. P., "Analysis of Filament Reinforced Spherical Pressure
Vessels," Composite Materials: Testing and Design, ASTM STP 546, 1973.
2 Gerstle, F. P., "High Performance Advanced Composite Pressure
Vessels,'' ASME Paper No. 74-P VP-42, June 1974.
3 Chen, M. C , and Clewlow, L. N. O., "Computer Analysis of Filament-
Reinforced Metallic-Spherical Pressure Vessels," Computers and Structures,
Vol. 7, No. 1, 1977, pp. 93-102.
4 Dritt, W. S., et. al., "Filament Wound Structure and Method," United
States Patent No. 4,005,233, Jan. 1977.
5 Weibull, W., "Statistical Distribution Function of Wide Applicability,"
ASME Journal ofApplied Mechanics, Vol. 18, Sept. 1951, p. 293.
6 Guess, T. R., and Gerstle, F. P., "Design Considerations for Spherical,
Ultra-High-Pressure, Composite Vessels," ASME Pressure Vessels and Piping
Conference, Denver, Colo., June 1981.
7 Knight, C. E., "Analysis of Stresses in Filament-Wound Spherical
Pressure Vessels Produced by the Delta-Axisymmetric Pattern," Union Car-
bide Corp., Nuclear Division Technical Report Y-1972, Aug. 1975.
8 Knight, C. E., "Failure Analysis of the Split-D Test Method," Composite
Materials: Testing and Design, ASTM STP 617, 1977, pp. 201-214.
9 Cain, W. D., and Knight, C. E., "Application of Weibull Criterion To
Failure Prediction in Composites," Union Carbide Corp., Nuclear Division
Technical Report Y-2235, Apr. 1981.
10 Bullock, R. E., "Strength Ratios in Composite Materials in Flexure and
in Tension," Journal of Composite Materials, Vol. 8, Apr. 1974, pp. 200-205.
11 Weil, N. A., and Daniel, I. M., "Analysis of Fracture Probabilities in
Nonuniformly Stressed Brittle Materials," Journal of the American Ceramic
Society, Vol. 47, No. 6, 1964, pp. 268-274.
AUGUST 1982, Vol. 104/231