Strength evaluation of CFRP tank based on meso-scopic zooming analysis

Abstract

For stringent cost reduction with sufficient safety of a high pressure hydrogen tank made by carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) installed in a fuel cell vehicle, a method to precisely predict the burst pressure of the tank has been intensely required. CFRP layers in the tank consist of complicated meso-structures with carbon fiber bundles and matrix resin, in which crimps of the bundles are stacked by a filament winding process. We propose a method to predict the burst pressure by zooming analysis of conventional axisymmetric continuum model of the whole tank with the meso-scale model. The proposed method is validated through the burst test of tank with accurate prediction of the burst pressure by means of the carbon fiber rupture in the meso-scale model.