Stress Analysis and Progressive Failure Analysis of Multilayered Basalt/Epoxy Composites

Abstract

Constructions of pressure vessels like rocket launch vehicles, missiles, rocket propellant tanks, and filament wound pipes for civil and military applications are made out of high strength, high stiffness and light weight composites filaments. Filament winding techniques are used for fabrication of such cylinders and pipes. Many materials like glass fibers, carbon fibers and Kevlar fibers are used due to their good strength when it is subjected to internal pressure as well as external pressure. Basalt fibers are new materials that are fabricated from hard dense basalt rocks. Basalt fibers can be used in the place glass fibers due to their good mechanical behavior when subjected to internal pressure. Plates and beams generally resists bending loads and pipes and tube structures resists internal forces developed through internal and external pressure. This work concentrates the fabrication of filament wound pipes using filament wound techniques and the burst pressure test is carried out. In fuel tanks of rockets, If any one of the layer fails due to internal pressure, there will be mild leakage. For this reason it is mandatory to find out the ply by ply failure. The first ply failure of basalt filament wound pipes subjected to internal pressure is calculated using Finite element analysis. Then the stress and progressive failure analysis was carried out. Maximum stress failure criterion is used for the finite element analysis.