On the effect of the ply stacking sequence on the failure of composite pipes under external pressure

The use of high performance structural composites has become very important over the last decades, especially where weight is an essential factor. Particularly in the oil and gas industry, several designs of composite pipes for deep water applications have been recently proposed as competitive solutions against traditional steel pipes. Thus, it is important to assess the performance of composite pipes under high external pressure in order to avoid pipe failure or over-conservative designs. In this paper, experimental tests of different composite pipe configurations are performed and then compared to analytical and numerical predictions. Unlike the case of internal pressure loads, the collapse pressure of composite pipes depends on the initial ovality and on the ply stacking sequence. The collapse resistance of different composite pipes is firstly studied through simplified analytical equations combined with different failure criteria. Then, a finite element model is developed using a progressive failure criterion [1]. Both analytical and numerical failure predictions were compared to experimental tests carried out on four composite pipes produced with different ply stacking sequence by the filament winding method [2]. An experimental-numerical-analytical comparison shows that numerical and analytical models provide results in good agreement with those obtained experimentally. Finally, a parametric analysis is carried out to show the effect of ovality and ply stacking sequence on the failure pressure of composite pipes.