Service Life Prediction of Type-IV Composite CNG Cylinder under the Influence of Drivers’ Refueling Habits—A Numerical Study

The new generation presented for CNG fuel tanks of vehicles (type-IV) is made entirely of composites. The reason for that is to prevent the sudden explosion of metal tanks and to use the advantage of gas leakage in composite materials. Previous research has shown that type-IV CNG fuel tanks also have challenges such as variable wall thickness in outer shell parts, which are prone to failure under cyclic refueling loading. The optimization of this structure is on the agenda of many scholars and automakers, and in this regard, there are many standards for strength assessment. Despite reporting injury events, it seems that another parameter should be included in these calculations. In this article, the authors have attempted to numerically investigate the effect of drivers’ refueling habits on the service life of type-IV CNG fuel tanks. For this purpose, a 34-L CNG tank made of glass/epoxy composite, polyethylene, and Al-7075T6, respectively, for the outer shell parts, liner, and flanges was considered as a case study. Moreover, a real-size measurement-based finite element model validated in the corresponding author’s previous research was used. The loading history was applied as internal pressure according to the standard statement. Furthermore, considering different behavior of drivers for refueling, several loading histories with asymmetric details were applied. Eventually, the results obtained for different cases were compared to experimental data in symmetrical loading. The results showed that, based on the car’s mileage, the driver’s behavior in the refueling process can significantly reduce the service life of the tank (up to 78% of the predicted life based on the standard methodology).

Journal
Publisher
MDPI AG
Number of issue
11
Language
English
Status
Published
Department
Department of Transport
Number
2480
Volume
15
Year
2023
Organizations
  • 1 Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia
Keywords
Polymer composite tank; Type-IV CNG tank; Polyethylene liner; Variable wall thickness; Driver habits; Service life prediction; Finite element analysis
Date of creation
03.11.2023
Date of change
03.11.2023
Short link
https://repository.rudn.ru/en/records/article/record/94393/
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