Structural reliability of axisymmetric composite gas storage tanks

This paper aims to investigate and analyze the effect of uncertainties and fluctuations on the structural reliability of filament wound cylindrical composite gas storage tank using Monte Carlo Simulation method (MCS). A performance function using Tsai-Wu failure criterion, with seven random variables, has been developed wherein the random variables are the three elastic constants of the material (longitudinal modulus E1, the transverse modulus E2 and shear modulus G12), the thickness of the laminate, the radius of the tank, the winding angle and the internal pressure. The safety margin distributions in terms of the coefficients of variation (COVs) of the composite gas storage tank are obtained. The results show that the internal pressure and the winding angle are the main parameters that affect the structural reliability of the tank and the probability of failure increases especially when all the parameters are treated as random. Furthermore, high values of coefficients of variation cause the shrink of the safety margin and can induce the failure of the axisymmetric structure.