Design Improvement of Composite Pressure Vessel Structure

Abstract

This paper presents a proposed approach for improving the design of a composite pressure vessel (CPV) under internal pressure. Thin shell theory, membrane theory, classical lamination theory and Tsai-Wu failure criterion are carefully integrated into an efficient mathematical model. The mathematical model is successfully combined with an in-house developed algorithm that is used to improve the design of any given CPV. Case results show that the proposed approach successfully improved the design of a composite pressure vessel relative to the base design made from steel and also relative to a conventional CPV design approach.