Prediction of dome thickness for composite pressure vessels from filament winding considering the effect of winding pattern

A novel method is developed without requiring the straight-line assumption for the trajectory projection of the dome band onto the cross-section plane to predict composite vessels' thickness from filament winding. It enables considering the effect of winding pattern obtained from the non-geodesic equations. A model is established for determining the critical band width to ensure a full coverage of fiber, while the geodesic offset is employed to calculate the band boundary lines. This method is validated by comparing the predicted wall thickness against the experiment, showing its high precision for thickness prediction with an average relative error of 1.51%. The dome thickness is calculated for a specific composite pressure vessel to compare with other representative methods. Results indicate that the winding pattern significantly influences on the thickness distribution. With increasing the dome slippage coefficient, the circuit number decreases for a full coverage and the obtained thickness decreases. An appropriate band width should be determined by balancing the overlapping effects of the rovings near the polar hole and in the last wound circuit on the dome thickness.

Automated summary

A novel method is proposed to predict the thickness of composite vessels without relying on the straight-line assumption. The winding pattern obtained from the non-geodesic equations is considered in this method. A model is developed to determine the critical band width for full fiber coverage, and the geodesic offset is used to calculate the band boundary lines. The effectiveness of the method is validated by comparing the predicted thickness with experimental results, showing a high precision with an average relative error of 1.51%. The influence of the winding pattern on the thickness distribution is demonstrated by calculating the dome thickness for a specific composite pressure vessel and comparing it with other methods. It is found that the circuit number decreases and the thickness decreases with an increase in the dome slippage coefficient.