Manufacturing, burst test and modeling of high pressure thermoplastic composite overwrap pressure vessel

Abstract

This article presents the design, the prototyping and the burst test of a thermoplastic composite overwrapped pressure vessel. New models for composite stacking in the dome area are proposed and compared to state of the art solution. The complex pattern of tapes following geodesic path around the dome is synthetized in a 2D axisymmetric model. An adapted set of thickness and angle is chosen for each element to correctly model the geometry and the stiffness of the winded composite. A tomography of the whole tank is done to check the geometrical reliability of the model. The behavior of the tank during the burst test is monitored by strain gages to evaluate the stiffness prediction of the built finite element model. A time-dependent behavior is noticed during a pressure plateau at 700Bars. The burst occurs at 1586 Bars in the dome area, where the model predicts the maximum fiber stress.