Optimal laminations of thin underwater composite cylindrical vessels

Tanguy Messager (1) , Mariusz Pyrz (2) , Bernard Gineste (3) , Pierre Chauchot (4)

1 GeM - Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique
2 LML - Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille - FRE 3723
3 Laboratoire de Rhéologie et de Mécanique des Structures
4 IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer

This paper deals with the optimal design of deep submarine exploration housings and autonomous underwater vehicles. The structures under investigation are thin-walled laminated composite unstiffened vessels. Structural buckling failure due to the high external hydrostatic pressure is the dominant risk factor at exploitation conditions. The search of fiber orientations of the composite cylinders that maximize the stability limits is investigated. A genetic algorithm procedure coupled with an analytical model of shell buckling has been developed to determine numerically optimized stacking sequences. Characteristic lamination patterns have been obtained. FEM analyses have confirmed the corresponding significant increases of buckling pressures with respect to initial design solutions. Experiments on thin glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy cylinders have been performed. The measured buckling pressures appear to be in good agreement with numerical results and demonstrate the gains due to the optimized laminations.

Mots clés: Experimental results; Optimal design; Lamination; Buckling; Composite; Cylinder

Domaines: Mécanique [physics.med-ph]

Tanguy Messager, Mariusz Pyrz, Bernard Gineste, Pierre Chauchot. Optimal laminations of thin underwater composite cylindrical vessels. Composite Structures, 2002, 58 (4), pp.529 - 537. ⟨10.1016/S0263-8223(02)00162-9⟩. ⟨hal-00142698⟩