Analysis of GFRP composite tubes for vertical pump application

Abstract

Composite anisotropic materials are rapidly gaining popularity in various applications. A global trend is towards an increases utilization of these advanced materials in a variety of structural applications. The pump and pipeline industry, and aerospace industry are the areas where use of fiber reinforced plastics have potential advantages over conventional materials. This thesis presents the results of an investigation to predict the behavior of filament wound glass fiber reinforced composite pipe subjected to different types of biaxial loading which typically occur in vertical diffuser pumps. In this study the influence of lay-up configuration and stacking sequence on the failure strength of a multi-angle glass fiber reinforced polymer composite tube was investigated by using finite element analysis. Published experimental results are taken as the basis for validation of the finite element analysis results. MSC-PATRAN was used to create a half model of the composite tube, and LS-DYNA software was used to perform the analysis. It was observed from the analysis that, the winding angle and the stacking sequence have a significant effect on the structural failure strength of the tube. Additional testing would be needed to verify these results; however the study demonstrated that finite element simulations could be used to accurately predict the performance of glass fiber composite tube under biaxial loading, and can be effectively used for direct applications in designing tubular structural components in centrifugal pump and other industries.