Finite element modeling of carbon fiber reinforced polymer pressure vessel

A finite element model of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) pressure vessel with aluminum liner is established by ANSYS finite element software. The outer filament wound fibers are overwrapped by both hoop winding and helical winding methods. The safety is vital because of high working pressure which is more than 35MPa. In the modeling process, the number of filament winding layers is treated as composite laminates with thickness and wrap angle variations of every unidirectional layer in the vessel section. The static analysis of the vessel is conducted. Based on the maximum stress criteria, burst pressure of the vessel is predicted. There is good agreement between model prediction and experimental data.