Prediction of dome thickness for composite pressure vessels from filament winding considering the effect of winding pattern

A novel method is developed without requiring the straight-line assumption for the trajectory projection of the dome band onto the cross-section plane to predict composite vessels’ thickness from filament winding. It enables considering the effect of winding pattern obtained from the non-geodesic equations. A model is established for determining the critical band width to ensure a full coverage of fiber, while the geodesic offset is employed to calculate the band boundary lines. This method is validated by comparing the predicted wall thickness against the experiment, showing its high precision for thickness prediction with an average relative error of 1.51%. The dome thickness is calculated for a specific composite pressure vessel to compare with other representative methods. Results indicate that the winding pattern significantly influences on the thickness distribution. With increasing the dome slippage coefficient, the circuit number decreases for a full coverage and the obtained thickness decreases. An appropriate band width should be determined by balancing the overlapping effects of the rovings near the polar hole and in the last wound circuit on the dome thickness.