Suppressing burst risk of dome section in composite pressure vessels by contour-driven collaborative design

Abstract

Composite pressure vessels are highly promising components of solid rocket motor casing, yet it has long been plagued by burst risk of dome section. Although current advances via the addition of composite layers can enhance dome strength, the weight redundancy still restricts the lightweight implementation. To this end, this paper presents an innovative contour-driven collaborative design for dome section, which helps suppress burst risk and avoid redundant weight due to composite layer thickening. Numerical burst assessment reveals that the pole size engenders a failure competition between pole and equator, indicating that rational utilization of this competition paves a feasible way for dome reinforcement. Besides, the burst risk is further suppressed by collaborative design between polar opening radius, polar boss size, and aspect ratio of ellipsoidal dome. Notably, it is concluded that greater polar boss size effectively reduces the stress concentration near pole, and rational manipulation of dome aspect ratio ensures compatible deformation near equator. More interestingly, we offer a collaborative design methodology to reinforce dome with various polar opening radii without thickening composite layers. This unique contour-driven collaborative design opens new avenues for simultaneous implementation of burst risk suppression and lightweight construction of composite pressure vessels.