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Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243

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Technical note

Experimental and theoretical analyses of ®rst-ply failure of laminated


composite pressure vessels
R.R. Chang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, China Institute of Technology, Taipei 11522, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract
Experimental and analytical approaches are studied via the ®rst-ply failure strength on symmetrically laminated composite
pressure vessels with various material properties, radius-to-thickness ratios, and di€erent numbers of layers subjected to uniform
internal pressure loads. Optimal angle-ply orientations of generally laminated symmetric ‰h= ÿ h= . . .ŠS shells designed for maximum
sti€ness were investigated. A hand lay-up technique was used to laminate composite pressure vessels by the stacking of pieces of
prepreg in the desired orientations and subsequent curing. The ®rst-ply failure pressure loads of the laminated composite pressure
vessels are determined using the acoustic emission AMS3 (AE) system. The experimental results have been proved to be ecient and
e€ective in the theoretical prediction of ®rst-ply failure strengths of laminated composite pressure vessels. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Experimental and analytical approaches; First-ply failure strength; Laminated composite pressure vessels

1. Introduction failure loads of laminated composite plates based on


several phenomenological failure criteria. Kam and his
Typical pressure vessel application can be seen widely associates [8±10] studied the ®rst-ply failure probabilities
in civilian industries such as liquid petroleum gas tank, of linear and nonlinear laminated composite plates.
®re extinguisher, oxygen gas tank, etc. Among these In this paper, ®rst-ply failure of laminated composite
commercial products, a common feature is that they pressure vessels is studied via both experimental and
must undergo a certain high working pressure with an analytical approaches. Experimental investigation of
appropriate safety factor and low maintenance costs. ®rst-ply failure strength of laminated composite pressure
Composite pressure vessels are suitable for inclusion in vessels subjected to uniform internal pressure loads is
engineered systems to satisfy such demands. For in- performed using an acoustic emission technique. A
stance, many researchers have studied the manufactur- comparison between the experimental approaches and
ing and designing aspects of laminated composite the analytical methods is made to demonstrate the
pressure vessels [1±3]. Recently, a number of researchers suitability of the failure criteria in predicting ®rst-ply
have studied the optimal design of laminated composite failure strength.
pressure vessels to reduce the weight and possible
maintenance costs. For example, Tauchert [4] studied
the optimum design of a reinforced cylindrical pressure 2. Theoretical analysis
vessel, Adali and his associates [5] presented the opti-
mization of laminated cylindrical pressure vessels sub- An advantage of composite material is the control-
jected to strength constraint. For reliability assurance, lability ®ber alignment. By arranging layers and ®ber
an accurate prediction of the failure process of lami- direction, a `best design', i.e., less material with better
nated composite structures and the maximum loads that strength, can possibly be achieved. In this paper, the
the structures can withstand before failure occurs has pressure vessel is modelled as a symmetrically laminated
thus become an important topic of research. In partic- cylindrical shell of thickness h, length L and radius of
ular, the ®rst-ply failure analysis of laminated composite curvature R. The laminated composite pressure vessel
structures has been actively investigated in recent years. under consideration is made of a number of orthotropic
Reddy and his associates [6,7] used the ®nite element layers of equal thickness. The basic material for this
method to calculate the linear and nonlinear ®rst-ply study is carbon ®ber composite material, which is

0263-8223/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 3 - 8 2 2 3 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 1 3 3 - 6
238 R.R. Chang / Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243

classi®ed as long and short ®ber. The long ®ber com-


posite is manufactured by Toho Company and denoted

(MPa)
78.78
as HTA-Q-1115 commonly seen in sporting goods, such

T
as a tennis racket, golf shaft, etc. The short ®ber, also

±
known as bulk-molding compound (BMC) is blended by
mixing carbon ®ber composite and resin with certain

(MPa)
78.78
proportions and this can be seen in products such as a

±
golf club head.

(MPa)
61.28
2.1. Optimal design of ply orientations

±
The objective in the optimal design of a laminated

(MPa)
206.8
composite pressure vessel is the selection of the lami-

YC
nation arrangement, which can give a maximum vessel

±
sti€ness. The NASTRAN ®nite element program [11]
was applied to the numerical analysis of clamped cy-

(MPa)
41.3
lindrical shell constructed with n ply groups of equal

YT

±
thickness (hi ˆ h=n) layers subjected to a uniform in-
ternal pressure load. The material properties used in the

2457.0
(MPa)
following optimum design are given in Table 1. It is

XC
assumed that G13 ˆ G12 ; m12 ˆ m13 and density q ˆ 1:0.

±
Optimal angle-ply orientations of laminated symmetric
‰h= ÿ h= . . .ŠS shells designed for maximum sti€ness were

2193.5
(MPa)
investigated. The relationship between displacement

XT
and lamination angle of symmetric angle-ply shells

±
‰h= ÿ h=h= ÿ hŠS of radius of curvature R ˆ 50 mm, side-
length L ˆ 300 mm with various geometry and loading

(MPa)
0.25
conditions was studied. Plots of central displacement

0.3
m23
versus lamination angle for the clamped cylindrical shell
under uniform internal pressure load are given in Fig. 1.

0.016691
SeT ˆ TeT
(MPa)

It is noted that the optimal angle-ply orientations for


0.27
0.3
m12

eight-layer cylindrical shells under uniform internal


pressure load are [54°/)54°/54°/)54°]S . 0.051409
(MPa)
1.192
8.46
G23

ReT

2.2. First-ply failure analysis of pressure vessels


YeC ˆ ZeC
0.021124

According to ``THIN-WALLED'' assumptions, the


(MPa)
4.72
8.46

stress resultants of the pressure vessel subjected to in-


G12

ternal pressure p can be given as,


0.004128
YeT ˆ ZeT
(GPa)

N1 ˆ PR=2; N2 ˆ PR; N6 ˆ 0; …1†


9.79
22.0
Material properties of graphite/epoxy prepreg

E3

where N1 and N2 are stress resultants in the axial and


0.017242

circumferential directions, respectively, and N6 is the


(GPa)
9.79

shear stress resultant which is zero due to symmetry of


22.0

XeC
E2

lamination. The other stress resultants in the geometric


coordinates are given in Ref. [12]. The ®rst-ply failure
Properties

0.015393

analysis of the laminated composite pressure vessel is


(GPa)
142.5
22.0

performed via the use of a suitable failure criterion.


XeT
E1

Herein, a number of phenomenological failure criteria


[9] are adopted in the analysis. Determination of ®rst-
Material

ply failure pressure loads of laminated composite pres-


Lamina

Lamina
Table 1

BMC

sure vessels based on maximum strain, Ho€man, Hill


and Tsai-Wu failure criteria has been used.
R.R. Chang / Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243 239

Fig. 1. The central displacement of clamped cylindrical shell with


‰h= ÿ h=h= ÿ hŠS under uniform internal pressure load (q ˆ 1:0 MPa).

3. Materials and processes

It is worthwhile to point out that, in addition to


composite materials excellent strength to weight ratio or
speci®c strength, it has another characteristic, namely,
the alignment controllability. The former property per-
mits substantial reductions in weight, while the latter
further enhances the possible weight savings retaining
sucient strength. Therefore, it is an objective of the Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of a composite laminated pressure vessel
present study to provide a lightweight pressure vessel by (10: pressure vessel; 11: connector; 12: upper portion; 13: middle body;
14: lower portion; 15: short ®ber; 16: long ®ber composite reinforce-
using a hand lay-up technique. Referring to Fig. 2, a ment).
composite laminated pressure vessel (10) according to
the present study, generally has a connecting member
(11), upper portion (12), middle body (13) and lower present study, the metal thread (111) which receives
portion (14). The connecting member is mounted with piping element (not shown), and outer longitudinal slots
the top part of the upper portion, and in consequence, (112) and peripheral slots (113) is to be joined with
overlapped with the middle body and lower portion. composite materials. By such an arrangement, the mix-
The composite material has two types; one is short ®ber ture of short ®ber and resin of the ®ller can be inserted
composite ®ller (15) serves as a medium placed between well into the slots de®ned on the outside wall of the
the metal and the exterior of long ®ber composite rein- metal adapter while attaching to the long ®ber rein-
forcement (16). After curing, the pressure vessel is forcement ®rmly.
formed into a bottle shape integrally. Connected with the connector is the upper portion
Further, as shown in Figs. 3±6, the pressure vessel can (12), which is shown in development drawing as de-
be described as follows in detail. Fig. 3 shows the con- picted in Fig. 4. It is pointed out that the sector of a
necting member, which is a metal adapter (110) sur- sphere can be calculated and drawn with fairly good
rounded by a layer of short ®ber composite. The metal accuracy, and can be found in standard engineering
adapter is to connect with other piping elements, such as drawing textbook or mathematics reference book, such
valve, nuzzle, etc., so that the vessel can be used for as CRC Standard Mathematics Tables and others. For
loading or draining purpose. Since composite materials the reason of accelerating production, as shown in the
are not adapted for frequent threaded mounting, a metal ®gure, the upper portion is cut into a cone shape with
member is a reasonable substitute. In such a case, radius of base (122) and a plurality of cut de®ned by
however, the connection of metal and composite has to numeral (121). By applying high pressure from the ex-
be treated with caution to ensure its security. In the ternal compressed air, and by con®ning the exterior
240 R.R. Chang / Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243

Fig. 4. Con®gurations of (a) the upper portion of the vessel and (b) its
development drawing (12: upper portion; 16: long ®ber composite re-
Fig. 3. A detailed diagram of the adapter (110: metal adapter; 111: inforcement; 121: out; 122: radius of base).
metal thread; 112: outer longitudinal slot; 113: peripheral slot).

its inner hollow portion, which is generally divided into


mold during the process of fabrication, the upper por- upper and lower half and can be made from tool steel or
tion can be shaped into the desired bottle shape. simply from carbon steel. Since this part is not presented
The cuts (121) are roughly de®ned by the connector according to the study, any one interested or those fa-
and shown in a dash line, which is further surrounded or miliar to the art can easily ®nd useful information from
tightened by long ®ber composite reinforcement (16). the mold maker. Next, a bottle shape de®ned previously
The advantage of these cuts is to ensure a good con- stu€ed with a nylon bag with an exterior outlet or
nection between the connector and the upper portion. nuzzles to receive pressured air, and then, the whole
Connected between the upper and lower portion is the arrangement is placed in the mold. After the air is
middle body (13) as shown in Fig. 5. As it can be seen the compressed into the nylon bag via the outlet, the ma-
length L is wrapped into a cylindrical shape with an width terial is expanded and con®ned by the mold, and thus
of a less than b to form a taper (131) in order to increase cured into the pressure vessel.
the lapping area. Alternatively, a similar con®guration It is stressed that, to ensure airtight property, during
with a ˆ b is possible, where no taper is formed. placing the uncured bottle shape member into the mold,
Fig. 6 shows the con®guration of lower portion (14). a few short ®ber composites can be added at the location
In this embodiment, the curve is inward. However, a of the connector in a fashion that the ®ber be forced or
similar theory is applied to the outward structure. It is a compressed into the slots formed on the metal adapter.
general approach that inward structure is suitable for It is a general practice that the higher the compressed
lower pressure to prevent possible buckling, and in a force, the better is the result of the connection between
contract, its outward counter part is ideal for higher the two di€erent materials, namely composite material
pressure. However, the ®lament winding method cannot and metal material.
do the inward curve of the lower portion. According to classical stress analysis, it was proved
Another feature of this study is the production pro- that the hoop stress r2 ˆ P  R=t is twice as much as the
cedure. First, the mold is prepared with shape de®ned by axial stress r1 ˆ P  R=2t, where P, R and t are the inner
R.R. Chang / Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243 241

Fig. 5. Con®gurations of (a) the middle body of the vessel and (b) its development drawing (13: middle body; 131: taper; a and b: side lengths).

Fig. 7. A schematic diagram of the interface ring which separates the


vessel (12: upper portion; 13: middle body; 123 and 132: metal rings).

Fig. 6. Con®gurations of (a) the lower portion of the vessel and (b) its
development drawing (14: lower portion). using the interfacing ring structure with the help of ad-
hesive. As shown in Fig. 7, the dividing pressure vessel is
not attached to metal ring (123) at one opening and
pressure, radius of curvature, and thickness of the metal ring (132) at the counter part. With the help of
pressure vessel, respectively. Using interfacing rings, the male and female threads, the pressure vessel can be
volume of the vessel can be varied by adding or re- tightened together as a whole. By a similar method,
moving engaged sections without seriously sacri®cing more sections can be added to increase the volume of the
the strength. Since the axial stress (r1 ˆ P  R=2t) and vessel.
the hoop stress (r2 ˆ P  R=t) are independent of the The graphite/epoxy material used in all the imple-
length L, the stress state would not be changed due to mented examples of this study, the curing pressure was
the variation of vessel length. By using similar technique set about 12±16 kgf/cm2 and the temperature was 150±
as the metal adapter, the pressure vessel is separated by 170°C for 60 min.
242 R.R. Chang / Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243

engaged. However, under high pressure, cautions must


be taken for possible leakage. By using a rubber bladder
inside of the pressure vessel for instance, the composite
structure can still bear the necessary design load, while
bladder can serve to resist the interior chemical corro-
sion and can prevent the possible leakage, that is to say,
can enhance the airtight ability. Another way is to coat a
layer of rubber-like material inside the vessel in re-
placement of the bladder for the same purpose. The
bladder is generally shaped like an interior space of the
pressure vessel, and in this case, a cylindrical one. It has
a lip (21) positioned at and slightly larger than the
opening of the vessel, and a nut (22) engaged to the
connector (11). In this con®guration, the bladder is
mounted with the opening to receive external charging
matter.

4. Experimental results

Some examples were performed to test the ®rst-ply


failure strength of the vessel. In these tests, the vessels
are clamped and subjected to a hydraulic pressure of
ratio 1.4 kgf/(cm2 s) until failure. According to the result
of aforementioned optimization, the middle portion has
®ber alignment of ‰54° = ÿ 54° = . . .ŠS . During testing, the
acoustic emissions were converted by the AMS3 (AE)
Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of a rubber bladder inside the vessel (11:
system to a set of signal describers such as peak ampli-
connector; 20: bladder; 21: lip; 22: nut).
tude, energy, rise time and duration which were then
used to identify the experimental ®rst-ply failure pres-
3.1. Airtight ability design sure load of the laminated pressure vessel. The experi-
mental results obtained by the present method are given
In another embodiment (see Fig. 8), a bladder (20) in Tables 2±4 and compared with the theoretical results
typically made from rubber or similar elastic materials determined from four specimens for each lamination
can be placed in the cured pressure vessel. The purpose arrangement. Regarding the capabilities of the adopted
of the bladder is to further enhance the airtight ability, failure criteria in predicting ®rst-ply failure pressure
in particular where the metal and composite portion is load, it has been found that the Ho€man, Hill and Tsai-

Table 2
Theoretical and experimental predictions of ®rst-ply failure pressure load for a [54°/)54°/54°/)54°]S laminated composite pressure vessel
Failure criterion R/h Theoretical failure Experimental failure Di€erence j…P ÿ F †=P j%
pressure load P (MPa) pressure load F (MPa)
Maximum strain 7.05 23.5
Ho€man 50 5.29 5.39 1.9
Hill 5.38 0.2
Tsai-Wu 5.26 2.5

Table 3
Theoretical and experimental predictions of ®rst-ply failure pressure load for a [54°/)54°/54°/)54°/54°/)54°]S laminated composite pressure vessel
Failure criterion R/h Theoretical failure Experimental failure Di€erence j…P ÿ F †=P j%
pressure load P (MPa) pressure load F (MPa)
Maximum strain 9.31 18.4
Ho€man 33 7.32 7.60 3.8
Hill 7.51 1.2
Tsai-Wu 7.28 4.4
R.R. Chang / Composite Structures 49 (2000) 237±243 243

Table 4
Theoretical and experimental predictions of ®rst-ply failure pressure load for a [54°/)54°/54°/)54°/54°/)54°°/54°/)54°]S laminated composite
pressure vessel
Failure criterion R/h Theoretical failure Experimental failure Di€erence j…P ÿ F †=P j%
pressure load P (MPa) pressure load F (MPa)
Maximum strain 11.45 16.1
Ho€man 25 9.23 9.61 4.1
Hill 9.52 0.9
Tsai-Wu 9.22 4.2

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