Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 2017, 5, 19-28

http://www.scirp.org/journal/msce
ISSN Online: 2327-6053
ISSN Print: 2327-6045

Finite Element Analysis of Graphite/Epoxy

Composite Pressure Vessel

Meng-Kao Yeh, Tai-Hung Liu

Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

How to cite this paper: Yeh, M.-K. and Abstract

Liu, T.-H. (2017) Finite Element Analysis of
Graphite/Epoxy Composite Pressure Vessel. Shell structure is widely used in industrial applications, such as in machinery,
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical aerospace, ship and building fields, as well as containers of pressurized chem-
Engineering, 5, 19-28. icals or liquefied natural gas. Graphite/epoxy composites has advantages of
https://doi.org/10.4236/msce.2017.57003
light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance, low expansion, low shrin
Received: April 13, 2017 kage and are often used in the form of composite pressure vessel for various
Accepted: July 4, 2017 engineering applications. In this study, the stress distributions of composite
Published: July 7, 2017
pressure vessel were analyzed. The finite element code ANSYS was used in
analysis, in which the eight-node element SHELL 281 was adopted. The in-
ternal pressure 20 MPa, as in container of compressed natural gas, was applied
inside the symmetrical cross-ply graphite/epoxy composite pressure vessel.
The finite element model was established with suitable mesh size and boun-
dary conditions. The stress distributions are discussed for the composite
pressure vessel, especially for the inner two layers at the junction of semis
pherical part. The Tsai-Hill criterion was used to assess the failure of compo-
site pressure vessel.

Keywords
Finite Element Analysis, Stress Analysis, Composite Pressure Vessel, Tsai-Hill
Failure Criterion

1. Introduction
Composite pressure vessels provide substantial weight reduction, high impact
strength, zero corrosion and longer fatigue life, when compared with common
metal ones. The composite pressure vessels can be used to carry compressed
natural gas (CNG). CNG, mainly composed of methane (CH4), is compressed to
20 MPa in high pressure cylinders operated at minus 40 to 60 degrees Celsius [1]
[2]. After decompression, CNG is supplied for combustion to achieve power as a
high quality alternative fuel for automobiles. CNG has the advantages of good

DOI: 10.4236/msce.2017.57003 July 7, 2017

M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

anti-blast performance, less emissions of harmful substances, extended service

life and reduced fuel costs. Yen [3] mentioned that discontinuous stress and
bending stress occurred at the junction of semispherical part of pressure vessel.
Yue and Li [1] used high-density polyethylene (HDPE) as the liner of composite
pressure vessel to cover the cylinder up to the junction of end plate to avoid fail-
ure.
In this study, the composite pressure vessel is analyzed using finite element
method. The symmetrical cross-ply composite pressure vessel model with dif-
ferent boundary conditions is analyzed and its stress distribution and failure be-
havior assessed by Tsai-Hill criterion are discussed for the composite pressure
vessel.

2. Composite Shell Analysis

2.1. First-Order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT)
The composite pressure vessel is assumed to be an intermediately thick shell
structure, with thickness/cylindrical radius greater than 0.18. The first-order
shear deformation theory (FSDT) proposed by Mindlin [4] assumed a constant
transverse shear deformation through the intermediately thick shell. The ele-
ment type –8 node Shell 281 [5] [6] used in finite element analysis is based on
FSDT in this study. As shown in Figure 1, the coordinate system α-β is at the
middle surface of shell, and the z-axis is in the thickness direction of shell. As-
suming no normal strain, εz = 0, the normal of shell keeps straight during de-
formation, but not perpendicular to the middle surface. The displacement field
can be expressed as
u (α
= , β , z ) u0 (α , β ) + zψ α (α , β )
v(α
= , β , z ) v0 (α , β ) + zψ β (α , β ) (1)
w(α , β , z ) = w0 (α , β )

where u0, v0, w0 represent the displacement at middle surface of shell. ψα and ψβ
are the mid-surface rotations.
The stress and strain relationship of k-th layer of composite laminate is shown
below [7].

Figure 1. Shell’s α-β-z coordinate system.

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 M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

 σ αk   Q11 Q12 0 0 Q16   ε k 

 k  Q  α
Q26   ε βk 
 σ β   12 Q22 0 0
σ βk z  =  0  k 
0  γ β z  (2)
 k  
0 Q44 Q45
σ α z    k 
0 0 Q45 Q55 0  γ α z 
σ k   γ k 
 αβ  Q16 Q26 0 0 Q66   αβ 

The coefficient of stiffness matrix ( Qij ) is obtained after transforming the

stiffness matrix from the material principal axis to α-β axis, as shown in Equa-
tion (3) [7], in which c and s represent cosθ and sinθ respectively.
Q11 =Q11c 4 + 2 ( Q12 + 2Q66 ) c 2 s 2 + Q22 s 4

Q12 = ( Q11 + Q22 − 4Q66 ) c 2 s 2 + Q12 (c 4 + s 4 )

Q16 =
−cs 3Q22 + c3 sQ11 − cs (c 2 − s 2 )(Q12 + 2Q66 )

Q22 =Q11s 4 + 2 ( Q12 + 2Q66 ) c 2 s 2 + Q22 c 4

( )
Q26 = cs 3Q11 − c3 sQ22 − cs c 2 − s 2 (Q12 + 2Q66 ) (3)

=
Q44 Q44 c 2 + Q55 s 2

=
Q45 ( Q55 − Q44 ) cs
=
Q55 Q55c 2 + Q44 s 2

( )
2
Q66 = (Q11 + Q22 − 2Q12 )c 2 s 2 + Q66 c 2 − s 2

The coefficients of stiffness matrix ( Qij ) are expressed below [7].

1 − υ23υ32 υ21 + υ31υ23 υ + υ32υ13 1 − υ31υ13
=Q11 E11 = , Q12 E= E22 12= , Q22 E22 ,
∆ ∆ ∆ ∆
11

Q44 = G23 , Q55 = G13 , Q66 = G12 , ∆ = 1 − υ12υ21 − υ23υ32 − υ31υ13 − 2υ21υ32υ13 (4)

where E11 and E22 are the Young. s modulus of composites in three directions;
G12, G23 and G13 are the shear modulus; υ12, υ23 and υ13 are the Poisson’s ratio of
composites.

2.2. Tsai-Hill Failure Criterion

In this study, the composite pressure vessel is under the operating internal pres-
sure 20 MPa. The Tsai-Hill failure criterion was used through the thickness of
the pressure vessel to determine whether the pressure vessel fails or not. The
Tsai-Hill failure criterion is expressed as [8]
σ 12 σ 1σ 2 σ 22 τ 122
− 2 + 2 + 2 ≥1 (5)
S L2 SL ST S LT
where σ1 is the stress in the fiber direction, σ2 the transverse stress and τ12 the
shear stress. SL and ST are the tensile strengths in the fiber and transverse direc-
tions and SLT the shear strength for the composite lamina. When Equation (5) is
true, it represents the possible failure at some layer in the composite pressure
vessel. In the latter section, the value of left hand side of Equation (5) is termed
as Tsai-Hill criterion value, which indicates failure of composite pressure vessel

21
M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

when this value is greater than 1.

3. Finite Element Analysis

3.1. The Composite Pressure Vessel
The composite pressure vessel has overall length 808 mm with a central cylinder
part 592.5 mm, as shown in Figure 2. The outside diameter of central composite
section is 215.5 mm. The opening diameter of end plate is 40 mm. The thickness
of composite pressure vessel is 18 mm, which is formed by a total of 144 gra-
phite/epoxy composite layers; each layer has a thickness of 0.125 mm. The lami-
nate stacking of composite pressure vessel is symmetrical cross-ply, [(0/90)s]36,
counting from inside wall as layer 1 with fiber in the hoop direction. In Figure 3,
the schematic of selected inner and outer layers is shown.

3.2. Material Properties

The material properties of graphite/epoxy composites are given below in Table 1
and Table 2 [9] [10]. The graphite/epoxy composite lamina is assumed to be
specially orthotropic υ12 = υ13 =υ23, E22 = E33, G23 = E22/2(1 + υ23) [8], since υ13, υ23,
E33 are difficult to be measured.
The longitudinal and transverse strengths of graphite/epoxy composite lamina
are adopted from [10] and the shear strength is from [9].

3.3. Internal Pressure Load and Boundary Conditions

The operating internal pressure of composite pressure vessel is 20 MPa with
compressed natural gas (CH4) at minus 40 to 60 degrees Celsius [1] [2]. Two
types of boundary conditions, clamped by buckles as the first type and free ex-

Figure 2. Dimensions of composite pressure vessel.

Figure 3. Schematic of selected layers.

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 M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

Table 1. Young’s modulus, Poission ratio and shear modulus of graphite/epoxycompo-

sites [9].
E11 E22 E33 G12 G13 G23
υ12 υ13 υ23
(GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa) (GPa)
128.484 9.135 9.135 0.249 0.249 0.249 5.705 5.705 3.66

Table 2. Strength of graphite/epoxy composites.

SL ST SLT
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
2266 [10] 70 [10] 84.108 [9]

pansion as the second type, are prescribed at the junction of semispherical part
in analysis, as shown in Figure 4. The two end plates are placed at both ends to
restrict all axial degrees of freedom (DOFs).

3.4. Analysis Model of Composite Pressure Vessel

The commercial finite element code ANSYS [5] was used in analysis. The com-
posite pressure vessel is meshed using 8-node element, Shell 281 [5] [6]. The
stress at a selected point at the junction of semispherical part was calculated with
different element numbers. Figure 5 shows the analysis model and convergence
analysis of composite pressure vessel. The difference of simulated results at se-
lected point is less than 1% for the analysis model of composite pressure vessel
with 22,400 elements and 67,456 nodes. This analysis model is used for the rest
of this study.

4. Results and Discussion

The stress distribution of composite pressure vessel was analyzed. The value of
Tsai-Hill criterion was calculated to evaluate the failure of composite pressure
vessel under operating internal pressure 20 MPa [1] [2] with two types of boun-
dary conditions. For the first type boundary condition, all DOFs at two junctions
of semispherical parts are all prescribed to be zero and prescribed to be free for
the second type boundary condition. Due to the symmetry of pressure vessel, the
stresses are the same in the hoop direction. Figure 6 shows the designated curve
to calculate the stresses and the values of Tsai-Hill criterion for discussion.

4.1. Results of Stress Distribution

Since the layer 1 directly contacts with the internal pressure loading, the stresses
in the fiber and transverse directions for layer 1 and 2, relatively large when
compared with the stresses in other layers, are of primary concern and are dis-
cussed in the following sections. Figure 7 and Figure 8 show the von Mises
stress distributions of layer 1 and layer 2 of composite pressure vessel with first
type and second type boundary conditions. The von Mises stress values are in
the range of 80 - 100 MPa. In the cylindrical part, the stress is very high in layer
1, 163 - 180 MPa, and very small in layer 2.4.5 - 24.1 MPa in the cylindrical part

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M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

Figure 4. Boundary condition of composite pressure vessel.

(a) (b)

Figure 5. Analysis model and convergence analysis of composite pressure vessel. (a)
Analysis model; (b) Convergence analysis.

Figure 6. The designated curve to calculate stresses and values of Tsai-Hillcriterion.

(a) (b)

Figure 7. Von Mises stress distributions of composite pressure vessel under first type
boundary condition. (a) Layer 1; (b) Layer 2.

for both boundary conditions. At the junction of semispherical part, von Mises
stress is 106.34 MPa for layer 1 and 98.408 MPa for layer 2 under first type

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 M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

boundary condition; von Mises stress is 84.64 MPa for layer 1 and 92.531 MPa
for layer 2 under second type boundary condition.
The stresses in the fiber and transverse directions of composite lamina are ob-
tained by transforming the stress components from finite element analysis in the
α-β coordinate system. First the discussion for the stresses in composite pressure
vessel is simply based on the maximum stress criterion. The shear stresses ob-
tained are very small and negligible when compared with the shear strength of
graphite/epoxy composites. The stresses in the fiber and transverse directions for
layer 1 and layer 2 along the designated curve for first type boundary condition
are shown in Figure 9. In Figure 9(a), the stress of layer 1 in the fiber direction
σ1 at the junction is 108.23 MPa, much lower than the corresponding material
strength 2200 MPa; the stress in the transverse direction σ2 is 3.89 MPa, lower
than the corresponding material strength 70 MPa. Therefore no failure occurs in
layer1 for the composite pressure vessel under first type boundary condition.
However, in Figure 9(b), the stress of layer 2 in the fiber directionσ1 at the junc-
tion is 4.87 MPa, much lower than the corresponding material strength 2200
MPa and the stress in the transverse direction σ2 is 100.75 MPa, larger than the
corresponding material strength 70 MPa. Therefore failure may occur in layer2
for the composite pressure vessel under first type boundary condition.

(a) (b)

Figure 8. Von Mises stress distribution of composite pressure vessel under second type
boundary condition. (a) Layer 1; (b) Layer 2.

(a) (b)

Figure 9. The stress along the designated curve for first type boundary condition. (a)
Layer 1; (b) Layer 2.

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M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

The stresses in the fiber and transverse directions for layer 1 and 2 along the
designated curve for second type boundary condition are shown in Figure 10. In
Figure 10(a), the stress of layer 1 in the fiber directionσ1 at the junction is
55.915 MPa and maximum 70.692 MPa, much lower than the corresponding
material strength 2200 MPa; the stress in the transverse direction σ2 is 94.934
MPa, larger than the corresponding material strength 70 MPa. Therefore failure
may occur in layer1 for the composite pressure vessel under second type boun-
dary condition. In Figure 10(b), the stress of layer 2 in the fiber directionσ1 at
the junction is 95.99 MPa and maximum 127.51 MPa, much lower than the cor-
responding material strength 2200 MPa and the stress in the transverse direction
σ2 is 6.44 MPa, also lower than the corresponding material strength 70 MPa.
Therefore no failure occurs in layer 2 for the composite pressure vessel under
second type boundary condition.

4.2. Results of Tsai-Hill Failure Criterion

The results from the previous section show that the stress in the transverse di-
rection is the main reason for failure of composite pressure vessel since the stress
is greater than its corresponding strength 70 MPa, based on the maximum stress
criterion. The Tsai-Hill criterion, Equation (5), is also used to assess the failure
of composite pressure vessel for both types of boundary conditions. Figure 11
shows the Tsai-Hill criterion value of layer 1 and 2 along the designated curve
from junction. From Figure 11(a), the Tsai-Hill criterion value of layer 2 is 2.07,
greater than 1; this indicates the failure of layer 2 in composite pressure vessel
under first type boundary condition. On the contrary from Figure 11(b), the
Tsai-Hill criterion value of layer 1 is 1.84, greater than 1; this indicates the failure
of layer 1 in composite pressure vessel under second type boundary condition.

5. Conclusion
In this study, the stress distributions of symmetrical cross-ply graphite/epoxy
composite pressure vessel under internal pressure 20 MPa were analyzed using
finite element method. Two types of boundary conditions were considered in

(a) (b)

Figure 10. The stress along the designated curve forsecond type boundary condition. (a)
Layer 1; (b) Layer 2.

26
 M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

(a) (b)

Figure 11. Tsai-Hill criterion value along the designated curve. (a) First type boundary
condition; (b) Second type boundary condition.

analysis. The Tsai-Hill criterion was used to assess the failure of composite
pressure vessel. The stress distribution and Tsai-Hill failure criterion are dis-
cussed for the inner two layers of composite pressure vessel at the junction of
semispherical part. It can be concluded that layer 2 failure occurred for the
composite pressure vessel studied under first type boundary condition; while
layer 1 failed for the composite pressure vessel under second type boundary
condition.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the support from Ministry of Science and
Technology, Taiwan through the grant MOST 105-2221-E-007-031-MY3. The
support is greatly acknowledged.

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M.-K. Yeh, T.-H. Liu

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