A contribution to structural reliability analysis of composite high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks

Abstract

Although composite high-pressure tanks are a subject of growing interest, especially for hydrogen storage applications, a detailed structural reliability analysis still needs to be improved. This work aims to provide a probabilistic investigation of the mechanical response of composite high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks using the Monte Carlo Simulation method. A performance function based on the circumferential model of composite pressure cylinders is employed with five random design variables. According to the results, the internal pressure and the helical layer thickness are the foremost parameters significantly impacting the structural reliability of the tank, whereas, the helical layer thickness and winding angles have a minor influence. In addition, high coefficients of variation values cause the contraction of the safety margin potentially leading to the failure of the composite hydrogen high-pressure tank. The obtained results were validated with experimental tests available in the literature.