Proposal for a smart pressurised ring test to study thick composite produced by filament winding

Abstract

Improvements in the characterisation of materials used in pipes, tubes or vessels rely on the development of tests on cylindrical samples in order to be consistent with the real manufacturing process. Existing devices are unable to reach the pressure limits required to test high pressure hydrogen storage tanks. We therefore propose an original test device based on a conical fitting system. First, the operational principle and the pressure measurement technique are presented. Next, the choice of apparatus design parameters according to test requirements is discussed. In addition, the device’s capabilities are illustrated on a 39 mm thick CFRP ring test including Digital Image Correlation measurements.