Experimental and analytical investigation of the cylindrical part of a metallic vessel reinforced by filament winding while submitted to internal pressure

In this work, we present an experimental and analytical investigation of a hydrogen storage vessel. This vessel is made of a carbon/epoxy envelope coated on a metal liner. In the theoretical part, an analytical model is proposed in which the laminate composite is assumed to be an anisotropic purely elastic material, whereas the liner is considered as an elasto-plastic material. The suggested analytical model provides an exact solution for stresses and strains on the cylindrical section of the vessel solution submitted to mechanical static loading. The aim of the experimental part is to validate the results of the theoretical model by manufacturing and testing some prototype vessels. Some analytical results are compared with the finite element solutions, a good correlation is observed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.