Effect of Thickness and Number of Layers on the Failure of Multilayer Composite Pressure Vessels

The main purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of thickness and number of layers on the fracture of layers in the multilayer composite pressure vessel. An 8-layers vessel with different angles of [0°/90°/45°/-45°] in the ABAQUS finite element software was simulated by varying the thickness of the layers as well as the number of layers. The fracture behavior of layers in the composite vessel was studied in terms of the Tsai -Hill index of failure (IF) as well as stress and strain changes in those layers. The results demonstrated that in the thin wall vessel, with increasing the thickness of layers with angle of 90°, the IF in the other layers of vessel was decreased, while the IF of fibers with angle of 90°, was increased. The fibers with angle of 90° had the best IF, highest peripheral stress, and von Mises stress and lowest longitudinal stress. The highest peripheral strain and the lowest longitudinal strain related to the fibers with angle of 90°. The optimum number of layers to prevent the failure of layers in this vessel was also 6 layers.