Monitoring of residual stresses in composite pressure vessels via modal analysis

Within a current research project at the Federal Institute for Materials Testing and Research (BAM), the degradation process of composite pressure vessels is studied to be able to give more accurate lifetime predictions in future. The presented research is based on type III pressure vessels consisting of an aluminium tank which is fully wrapped with carbon fibre reinforced plastics. Focus is set on the analysis of residual stresses which are induced into the pressure vessel during manufacturing process in order to increase high cycle fatigue. However, with increasing lifetime residual stress conditions do change. To be able to measure and monitor stress conditions, the application of a non-destructive measurement method is aspired. In this paper, potential of an experimental modal analysis is worked out to capture and monitor aging and degradation effects in pressure vessels. With the presented method, information about changes in residual stress can be obtained via an analysis of the modal parameters. To realize an application, first, a finite element simulation is used to prove and evaluate potential capability and validity. In the following, a test bench is set up and successively optimized in its accuracy and efficiency. Sensitivity of the applied measurement technique is experimentally ascertained trough the measurement of several prestress modified pressure vessels. Finally, experimental results are interpreted and evaluated with the help of numerically gained findings.