Design Method of a Composite Pressure Vessel With Unequal Polar Openings

ABSTRACT The winding path design methods for pressure vessels mainly focus on geodesic and non‐geodesic paths, and research on path design for pressure vessels with unequal polar openings is relatively limited. Thus, this study establishes a mathematical model for the fiber path of pressure vessels with unequal polar openings using the meridian rotation offset method. Multiple boundary conditions are introduced to ensure the continuity and feasibility of fiber winding, including the continuity of the winding angle at the equator of both ends' heads and the slip coefficient constraint. On the basis of the Tsai‐Wu failure criterion and classical laminate theory, a performance factor is introduced. These boundary conditions form a penalty function as the objective function to perform multi‐objective optimization on the heads of the container at both ends. After optimization, the carrying capacity of the pressure vessel improved by 62.38%. Additionally, the failure location shifted from the equator of the right head to the polar opening. The stress distribution of the pressure vessel is also analyzed. Finally, a graphical simulation of the winding path is conducted, and results show that this design method can meet the winding requirements of pressure vessels with different parameters, demonstrating its effectiveness and reliability.