Int. J. Pres. lies.

& Piping I0 (1982) 31-53

THE STRENGTH A N D DEFORMATIONS OF

TORISPHERICAL ENDS FOR GLASS-REINFORCED
PLASTIC PRESSURE VESSELS PART 2: EFFECT OF
TORISPHERE GEOMETRY FOR ENDS OF FIXED HEAD
HEIGHT*

D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN & S. S. GILL

Department oJ MechanicalEngineering, UMIST, Manchester, Great Britain

(Received: 20 February, 1981)

ABSTRACT

Four Jurther glass-reinforced plastic cylindrical pressure vessels with torispherical

dished ends have been tested to destruction. Together with two vessels already
reported on in Part 1 of thispaper, these specimensJorm part of a group with the same
head height of 0"25m but with three different torus radii of O.lm, 0"146m and
0.188m, giving crown radii of O.71 m, 0.S m and 1.0 m, respectively (two vessels oJ"
each geometry were tested). As in Part 1, resultsJrom the tests were compared with
those suggested by the current UK design code (BS 4994) and the predictions of a
computer-based elastic stress analysis (BOSOR 4). In contrast to BS4994,
BOSOR 4 indicates that there is little difference in strength between dished ends with
the two larger knuckle radii. A torus radius of 0"1 m, however, does produce a
significant increase of maximum stress and strain. In fact, of the Jour additional
vessels tested, only those two of this latter geometry ultimately failed in the dished
end, those of knuckle radius 0"146 m rupturing in the cylinder.

NOMENCLATURE

D i C y l i n d e r i n s i d e diameter.
hi Internal head height.
K~ Shape factor (BS 4994).
Po-2% Pressure at a m a x i m u m strain o f 0.2 %.

* Part 1 appeared in Vol. 9 No. 4, 1981, pp. 285-318.

31
Int. J. Pres.lies.&Piping0308-O161/82/O010-O031/$02.75 © Applied SciencePublishers Ltd, England, 1982
Printed in Great Britain
32 D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

Pult Burst pressure.

Fi Torus inside radius.
Ri Sphere inside radius.
t Wall thickness.
u Ultimate tensile unit strength (UTUS).
X Extensibility.
4)0 Meridional arc angle between axis of revolution and sphere/torus junction.

INTRODUCTION

A large series of tests on glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) cylindrical pressure vessels

with torispherical end closures is being carried out at UMIST with the support of a
grant from the Science Research Council's Polymer Engineering Directorate. The
principal purpose of the work is to investigate the basis of the design method for
torispherical ends specified in the current UK code for GRP pressure vessels,
BS 4994.1 Fourteen vessels have been tested to destruction and they represent three
important parametric groupings. One such grouping, comprising vessels of the same
torisphere geometry but differing thicknesses, has been reported on elsewhere. 2
Part 1 of the present paper 3 covered a second group, each vessel having the sphere
radius equal to the cylinder diameter but with three different values of torus radius
giving three different head heights. In Part 2, vessels of constant head height
(hJD~ = 0.25) but of three different torisphere geometries are now considered. The
first part of this paper presents theoretical results for each nominal head shape whilst
the remainder deals with the experimental results from the four vessels of this head
height which have not already been reported.

SPECIMEN GEOMETRY

Table 1 gives the nominal properties of the three geometries, designated B, D and E
in order of decreasing knuckle radius. All geometries have hi/D ~= 0.25 and are
assumed to be of uniform thickness with t/D~ = 0.01. Also shown are the reference
numbers of the corresponding specimen vessels. Geometry B has the crown radius
equal to the cylinder diameter and thus also formed part of the group covered in
Part 1 of this paper. Geometry D has the dimensions of the 'ellipsoidar domed end
specified in the British Standard for pressure vessel details, BS 5276,4 and is also very
similar to the Korbbogen type end of the German code for GRP vessels. 5 It is, in
fact, an approximation to a semi-ellipsoidal shape of the same head height.
Geometry E has the knuckle radius equal to 10 ~oof the cylinder diameter and can be
regarded as complementary to geometry C of Part 1 of this paper, which geometry
had the same knuckle radius but h l / D i = 0"19, R~/Di = 1"0.
 TORISPHER1CAL ENDS FOR GRP PRESSURE VESSELS 33

TABLE 1
NOMINAL PROPERTIES OF END GEOMETRII~ B, D AND E

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Geometry Vessel ri/Di Rl/Dl ~o Properties from BS 4994
reference reference
letter numbers Ks Effective Po.2 ~ P.l~
SCF (kPa I (kPa)
B 3 and 4 0.188 1.0 22-5 ° 1.80 1.98 104 818
D 11 ° 0.146 0.8 32-8 ° 2.25 2.48 46 364
12 83 655
E 13 and 14 0.1 0.708 41.1 o 2.25 2.48 83 655

" This vessel has only five layers of 450 8/m 2 CSM. All others have nine layers.
All geometries have hl/D ~= 0"25.

Also shown in Table 1 are the shape factors (Ks) from BS 4994 for each geometry
and the effective stress concentration factors (SCF) these represent when eqn. (17) of
the code is compared with the corresponding equation for the unit load in a cylinder.
Geometry D just qualifies for the same shape factor as geometry E (the higher one of
the two specified at this head height) because it has ri/D i less than 0.15. It is
interesting to note that the effective SCF from the German code for this geometry is
1.5* for the knuckle and 0.9 for the crown area, i.e. the sphere may be made thinner
than the torus region. The value of 1.5" is even less than the BS 4994 shape factor for
geometry B. Table 1 also gives values of P0.2 ~. and Pu, calculated according to the
BS4994 procedure using the properties specified in the code ( X = 12.7kN/mm
width per kg/m 2 of glass; u = 2 0 0 N / m m width per kg/m 2 of glass) and the
nominal construction of each vessel (vessel 11: five layers of 450 g/m 2 chopped
strand mat (CSM); all other vessels: nine layers of 450 g/m 2 CSM).

THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION

BOSOR 4, 6 the computer program described in Part 1 which is able to carry out a
stress analysis of axisymmetric shells of revolution assuming linear elastic material
properties and allowing for changes of shape, was again used to give theoretical
predictions of the behaviour of these dished ends. Stress and strain distributions at a
relatively high pressure, obtained assuming a uniform thickness of 10 mm and a
value of Young's modulus of 7.0 GPa, are shown for geometries D and E in Figs 1
and 2, respectively. They are directly comparable with the corresponding
distributions for geometry B shown in Fig. 4 of Part 1. It can be seen that the
intensification of stress and strain in the torus is significantly greater for geometry E.

* In the tentative update of A D - M e r k b l a t t N I o f February, 1976, this value has been increased to 1.75.
34 D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

80 I I I ~ l 1
Sphere _ L~Torus~ _ _ C ),L:nJer

60--

~.0 - -

:' 20

~ 0 1 l ~ 1 t

~\
-20 t "~-J
~\ iiII Inside surfoce | . .
- - - - - outside surfoceJMer=dl°nal
-A,O
. . . . Inside surfoce I .
. . . . Outside surfocel Cwcumferentl°
-60 .______J__ l 1 J L 1
100 200 300 6,00 500 600 7IX) 800 ~)0
Meridionol disfnnce from pole mm

(a)

I.~ 1 [ T 1 f 1 F T - -
1"2-- ~ -

1•0 ~. Sphere Cylinder .~

o.._ ,.-.- ........

o.~

-0"2 - - \ \

-O.t.
I \,,
' ~
,'r
/ ~lnsidesurf,~-e 1
I

-o.,I- "~.,,-" I-----,"~. ~, ic,r,,~..,~,~

_. ~ ~
08 ....
0 1O0 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Pleridionai distcmce from pole mm

(b)
Fig. l. Predictions of BOSOR 4 for geometry D (uniform thickness) at P = 1200 k Pa. (a) Distribution
of surface stress. (b) Distribution of surface strain.
 TORISPHERICAL ENDS FOR GRP P R E S S U R E VESSELS 35

t I I I I I I |

8o I-=_ Sphere .~ Torus~ I_ Cylinder

60

g. -
T

20 --

0 J I I "\.,\I~. i/,'~1 I

-20 -
I~ /.l--Inside surfoce | . --

', / / ..... ,o,,,,,u~o, , d

', / ; .... o,,,=de..p'°m"r''
- 6C I I I I ~--" I/ I I l
100 200 300 /,00 500 600 700 BOO 900
Heridionol distonce from pole mm

(a)

1"6
I T i T 1 _-7 1 1
1.4
~ _ _ Sphere _ . _ Cylinder_ -.~
1-2

1-0

0'8

0'6 -- I,):-- .......

•~ 0.~,

0'2

0 _ L I "_ '~ ',

-0"2

-0"~,

-0'6
-0.8
0 100 200 300 /~0 500 600 700 800 900
Heridiono( disfonce from pole mm

(b)

Fig. 2. Prediction o f B O S O R 4 f o r g e o m e t r y E ( u n i f o r m thickne~s) at P = 1 2 0 0 k P a . (a) D i s t r i b u t i o n

o f s u r f a c e s t r e s s . (b) D i s t r i b u t i o n o f s u r f a c e s t r a i n .
36 D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

This is confirmed by the relative values of SCF and SNCF (strain concentration
factor) defined exactly as in Part 1 and shown for geometries B, D and E in Table 2.
Values are specified at zero pressure (corresponding to no change of geometry) at a
pressure to give a maximum strain of 0.2 ~ and at 1500 kPa (close to the estimated
cylinder burst pressure). It can be seen that, although BS 4994 requires the same

TABLE 2
STRESS AND STRAIN CONCENTRATIONFACTORSFROM BOSOR 4

Geometry SCF SNCF

P=O P = Po.2~. P=15OOkPa P=0 P = P0.2~, P=15OOkPa

B 1.79 1.66 ! .19 2.25 2.08 1-46

D 1.71 1.64 1.27 2.20 2.10 1.60
E 2.14 2.08 1.62 2.68 2.60 1-99
Semi-ellipsoidal 1.38 1.34 1.18 1.72 1.66 1-41

(higher) shape factor for geometry D as for geometry E, SCF's and SNCF's from
BOSOR 4 for geometry D are very much closer to those of geometry B. Thus,
whereas for geometries B and E the SCF's at zero pressure are very similar to the
corresponding shape factors shown in Table 1, for geometry D the SCF is
significantly less than Ks. This apparent anomaly in the Standard is the result of the
tabular method of presenting shape factors.
Again, both SCF and SNCF decrease with pressure as the end deforms into a
stronger shape. At P0.2 ~ the reduction in SCF and SNCF is greatest for geometry B
and least for geometry E. In proportional terms, this is also true at P = 1500 kPa,
suggesting that the effects of changes of shape decrease with decreasing crown radius
for ends of the same head height.
Table 2 also shows values of SCF and SNCF for a semi-ellipsoidal end of the same
head height and wall thickness. It can be seen that both SCF and SNCF for this
shape at zero pressure are much less than the corresponding values for any of the
three torispherical ends, including geometry D which is an approximation to an
ellipse. This would seem to validate the lower shape factor in BS 4994 for a semi-
ellipsoidal end (Ks = 1-45 for h J D i = 0-25). However, as the pressure is increased,
the change of geometry effect is not as great for this shape and, at 1500 kPa, the SCF
and SNCF values are only slightly less than those of geometry B, the 'strongest' of
the torispherical ends at this pressure.

TEST SPECIMENS

The results for specimens 11-14 only are reported here, those for vessels 3 and 4,
corresponding to geometry B, having been covered in Part 1. As before, the vessels
were manufactured by Plastics Design and Engineering Ltd using the same
 TORISPHERICAL ENDS FOR GRP PRESSURE VESSELS 37

materials and methods of construction (see Part 1). The reinforcement was again
nine layers of 450 g/m 2 CSM except in the case of vessel 11 where only five layers
were used. All vessels were post-cured for several hours at 50 °C in a polyethylene
tent.

TEST PROCEDURES

Material property tests

As before, a flat sample panel was laid up at the same time as each of the vessels.
Tension and four-point bend tests were carried out exactly as described in Part 1 on
ten specimens of each type cut from each panel.

Vessels
The test rig and instrumentation were as described in Part 1. The hand pump was,
however, replaced by a pneumatically :operated one (Charles Madden & Co. Ltd,
Airhydro Power Unit Type J.S.) in order to obtain a steadier rate of pressurisation.
The first loading cycle (up to a maximum strain of approximately 0.2 %) to
determine the 'elastic' behaviour was carried out in the normal manner for each
vessel. Pressure was applied in five equal increments up to the predetermined
maximum for the cycle and subsequently released in a similar manner. At each
increment, the valves were closed for a dwell period of 10 min.
For vessels 11, 13 and 14, it was decided that the intermediate cycles used
previously--whereby the specimen was loaded cyclically two or three more times to
progressively increasing maximum pressures before loading to failure--should be
omitted. This seemed reasonable because tests carried out on four-point bend
specimens both with and without these cycles had not produced any significant
variation in material strength properties, v For vessel 12, however, acoustic emission
studies were carried out by Dunegan Endevco Ltd and, at their request, two
additional cycles up to approximately 50 ~ and 75 ~ of the burst pressure were
included. For all four vessels the final pressurisation was carried out in a slow, steady
manner (without the 10-min dwell periods) to give failure in approximately 4h.
Because the rate of loading was so slow, it was possible to halt the pump
momentarily to allow a scan of the transducers to be taken without significant
changes in the pressure occurring in the 30 s that this required. This method had the
advantage that many more scans of the transducer readings could be taken during
the final loading without unduly prolonging the period of the test and also it was
more likely that a scan would be obtained immediately prior to failure.
After burst, each vessel was cut in half as before and measurements of wall
thickness taken, along the two instrumented meridians. Again, four samples were
taken from the cylinder at equidistant positions around the circumference and a
total of eight from the torisphere at various meridional and circumferential
38 D . C . BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

positions. Burn-off tests were conducted on these to determine their glass content. In
addition, three samples were taken from each vessel (one from the cylinder, one each
from the knuckle and crown regions of the torisphere) in order to obtain
measurements of the thickness of the resin-rich layers present on the inside and
outside surfaces of the vessel wall material. The samples were cold-mounted in plastic
before being ground on water-lubricated abrasive paper and polished on diamond
paste impregnated cloth wheels. On viewing the samples prepared in this way
through a low-power microscope (magnification of the order of 10 × ), the bundles of
fibres in the main part of the specimen and the fibre-free resin-rich surface layers
could be clearly distinguished. Using a scale calibrated in micrometres and projected
onto the focal plane of the microscope, the thickness of each surface layer was
measured at two points per sample. This was relatively straightforward for the inside
surface because the gel coat here was generally smooth and parallel-sided. The final
(outside) layer, however, was usually very much more uneven and more judgement
was required to estimate the thickness.

RESULTS

Material property tests

The results of the routine tension and four-point bend tests for the fiat panels
provided with vessels 11-14 are summarised in Table 3. The properties shown were
all calculated as outlined in Part 1.

Vessels
(1) Measured and derived properties: The measured wall thickness profiles for all
four vessels along both the strain-gauged and comparative meridians are shown in
Fig. 3. Mean thicknesses along the strain-gauge meridian in the torisphere and in the
cylinder (excluding the tapered hub) of each vessel are shown in column 3 of Table 4.
The mean glass content results from the burn-off samples are shown in columns 4 to
6. Columns 7 and 8 give the mean thickness of each resin-rich layer from the two
samples taken in the case of the torisphere and the single sample for the cylinder.
In Part 1, individual panel results were used to derive representative properties for
the corresponding vessel. There are doubts about the validity of this method, partly
because the percentage glass content of the vessels was invariably significantly lower
than those of the panels and partly because of the effect the resin-rich layers were
found to have, particularly on the apparent stiffness of the laminate in bending. It
was thought that these differences were likely to be more important than the dfects of
using different batches of nominally similar materials and of minor variations in
laminating and curing conditions that were supposed to be accounted for by the
testing of 'representative' panels. It was therefore decided to use the results from all
fourteen panels tested to date in an attempt to derive more realistic properties for
TORISPHERICAL ENDS FOR G R P PRESSURE VESSELS 39

o~o~o~

~.,~ ~ ~,r-

I-

<
II

<

~..~ -....
 4:1.
2z. ~ I - ] I 1 I i I I --t 24 I - I I r I I I I I -I
20~_ Vessel 11 (strain gauged meridian) 20~-- Vessel 13 (strain gouged mer,dion)
16 Sphere Torus l Cylinder ~[ 16~- .... ".
.. ..., ...,, ..
12[:':'"" " """. . . . . •......

0 i........; ................... o I I I J li Ji J I t
o loo zoo 30o 40o soo 6oo ?oo 8oo too 0 100 200 300 400 S00 600 700 800 900
24. l - I I I I I I I I -,I 21~1- I I I I I 1 I I -I
20 ~- Vess~ 11(comporntive meridiomi -~ 20 L- Vessel 13 (comp~'xitive meridian)
,,,,p -. ....... -<,,,- '~1~
, F ......... - ...........................
."". • , - . t
1
.... ...... . ...... ........ ...° sp.er. ,,~,-'-~,~"~
e.F:_
~ ~2 "'"................

~o I I I I II II I I
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 9QO 0 100 200 3100 Z~O 500 600 700 800 gO0
2~,~_ I I I I I I I I -1 I 21.1_ I I I I I I I I -t
~20 I: ,'e.,, 12 ..-. _ 10 E V i i l l l 1/* Istrom gouged ll~idieml
16 k (strain gouged meridian) .." "'.. .t '~ t 6 +.,.~ ......,.+--.~.,

12 .'. ........ •............ "° "'"%,°. ~l ~zr- "" ................ : ........ • . . . . . . . . . . . 1

[:-'". . . . . . . Sphere _L.Tilus ~.:'" ~ ' ~ " "'"~'~ , It. s~.r. _,_Tor~._L2"'Ci',~'"'~

ol- I i i I II il I i -I o I 1 I I II II I I
0 100 200 300 zOO 500 600 730 800 I 0 100 200 300 zOO 500 600 ?00 800 ~00
2¢ i- I I I I I I I I -I 2z'l- I 1 I 1 I I I I J
20 ~- vessel 12 2 0 ~'- Vlisll 1¢, (comporotivi.,meridion) -~
16 V (compofotive meridian) .-"" "
~ 7 I-~.-'"............ .... _..,........."" "., .--°,. 162F[--- ..........'" "'..... ............. ~.
, ~- Spi,e~, ±To, us _7"'""~7i~i',:"'".-:i 15~____ Sphere _~OCUSL_ Cylinder _--I

o
'P I I I I ;1 T I I I
0 100 200 300 /,00
600 700 500 800 0 100 200 300 ~0 500 600 700 800 900
Meridlonol distance from pole mm Meridionot distance from pole mm

Fig. 3. Meridional variation of shell wall thickness for vessels 11-14.

 TABLE 4 rj~

MEASURED AND DERIVED PROPERTIES OF VESSEL WALL MATERIAL

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I0 11 12
1 Derived properties
Vessel Region Mean measured properties
Thickness Weight Percentage Specific Thickness of Young's modulus Ultimatestress
ref. No. of (Gea) (gea)
vessel on strain- of glass thickness resin-rich Z
gauged glass contentby (ram per layers ~e
meridian (kg/m 2) weight squaremetre (ram)
(mm) (%) of glass) Inside Outside Tension Bend Tension Bend

8.0 2.87 21.8 3-24 1.0 0.6 7-16 5"86 84 91

Torisphere
11 6.3 2-01 22" 1 3.23 0-9 0-5 7"24 5"79 87 93
Cylinder
13.4 5.20 24.1 3-17 0'8 0.4 7"72 7'01 91 110
Torisphere
12 10.9 3-52 25.5 2.93 0.9 0.5 7"92 6"86 98 113
Cylinder
13.3 4.15 23.1 3.25 1.1 0-5 7'58 6"67 89 102
Torisphere
13 11.5 3.54 25.2 2.96 1.2 0.5 7'85 6-68 97 109
Cylinder
14.3 4-64 23"6 3"63 1.1 0.5 7.66 6.79 91 105
Torisphere <
14 10"8 3.41 25-2 3-24 0-8 0.7 7-87 6.74 97 116
Cylinder

4~
42 D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

these four vessels, taking into account both the differences in percentage glass
content and the effect of the resin-rich surface layers. The exact procedure whereby
this was done is described in detail in reference 8, but, basically, difference in glass
content were accounted for using approximate empirical relationships between
measured panel properties and the corresponding glass content, whilst the
correction for the resin-rich layers is based on simple laminate theory using the
measured surface layer thickness and an assumed modulus (3.5 GPa). The values of
laminate modulus and UTS derived in this way in tension and in bend are shown in
columns 9 to 12 of Table 4. From these it is a straightforward matter to calculate
values of extensibility and UTUS, when required, by multiplying by the specific
thickness shown in column 6.
(2) Comparison of experimental and theoretical dejbrmations: As previously,
BOSOR 4 was run for each vessel using the measured thickness distribution along
the strain-gauged meridian and pressure increments corresponding to both the
'elastic' cycle and the final loading to failure. This time, however, a different modulus
was used for each vessel, the value being the derived bend modulus for the torisphere
shown in column 10 of Table 4. The value of Poisson's ratio was also increased from
the value of 0.3 used in Part 1 to 0.34, the latter being the overall mean value from a
total of forty separate results from strain-gauged specimens (both tension and four-
point bend) tested as part of the complete programme of work.
In Part 1 it was shown that good agreement was obtained in the general pattern of
experimental and theoretical results at strain levels below the limit of
proportionality (which occurs at approximately 0 . 3 ~ strain for CSM GRP)
although, even at these low pressures, peak deflections and strains were usually
underestimated by BOSOR 4. As the stress-strain curve for this material is nearly
linear right up to failure, one might expect BOSOR 4 to give reasonable predictions
at much higher strain levels. In Part 1, data was not presented for high strains but the
discrepancies were of a similar order of magnitude to those at low pressures. 7
Experimental and theoretical deformations are now presented for vessel 13 at
pressures up to a maximum just below the actual burst pressure. Vessel 13 was
selected because (a) a scan of transducer readings was available just before failure
and (b) no large-scale tilting of the cylinder took place even at high pressures. This
latter, which occurred for most vessels, often made measured radial displacements
difficult to correlate with BOSOR 4 predictions.
The distribution of meridional surface strain is shown in Fig. 4, that of
circumferential strain in Fig. 5 and that of radial deflection in Fig. 6. In each case,
experimental and theoretical values are plotted at an initial pressure of 211 kPa
followed by four equal increments of 200 kPa up to a maximum of 1011 kPa.
(3) Summary ofpredictedandmeasured results ( Table 5):Table 5isequivalentto
Table 4 of Part 1 and all results are calculated in a similar manner. Values of SCF
and SNCF (columns 2 and 3) were calculated from BOSOR 4 stress and strain
predictions for the measured wall thickness using eqns (6) and (7) of Part 1 but
taking t as the mean measured thickness in the torisphere. This latter deviates from
 1.2
I l T F i l" Bosor ~,
• E xperlmentol

1"0-- - - -

0"8

0-6
Cylinder

~, 0.1.

0.2

100 200 300 400 500 600 ?00 800 900 1000
Heridionol distun£e from pole mm

(o)
o.8 I I I I l I Bosor
0.7 _
• Experilntal

I
Sphere , Torus _ , _ Cylinder
0.6 ~ - : _ _ =
• \
0.5 • --

\
". • ,

~ -
~ 0.2
i - -

0-1 --

o I I I I I ~

-0'1 -- --

-0"2 -- - -

-o.3 I I I I I I i I I
0 100 200 300 /.00 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Meridionol dstonce from pole m m

(b)
Fig. 4. Distribution ofmcridional strain t'orvessel 13 at P = 211, 411, 611, 811 and I011 kPa. (a) Inside
surface strain. (b) Outside surface strain.
 0.8 I I ~ I I I T T I _
Sphere - I - Torus -1 - Cyhnder

0"6

0"~.

0"2

-0"2

-0"~.

- 0 "6
100 200 300 ~00 500
J
600
J

700
~
•

800
Bosor I.
Experimentul

900 1000
Meridionol distance from pole mm

(o)
O. 8 r - ~ - - - - - - 1 - - - T--T~T--T T T T T l
,,u
Sphere .~ _ CyI,.def _ _~
0.6--

0,~,--

0.2

~ 0

-0.2

-O.L,

Bosor 4

-0'6 ~ l ~ l ~ l J j J
100 200 300 ~,00 SO0 600 700 BOO 900 1000
Moridionol distance from pole mm
(b)
Fig. 5. Distribution ofcirfumferential strain for vessel 1 3 a t P = 2 1 1 , 4 1 1 , 6 1 1 , 8 1 1 and 1011kPa.(a)
Inside surface strain. (b) Outside surface strain.
 TORISPHERICALENDSFOR G R P PRESSUREVESSELS 45

S'O!

4..0

3"0

i 2"0
~ 1.o

¢s o
Ls 1 ~.
-1 ' 0

-2.0

-3"0[ I 1 I I l I I I
-1000 -800 -600 -400 -200 200 /,00 600 800 1000
Meridional distance fro• pole mm

Fig. 6. Distribution of radial deflection for vessel 13 at P--21 l, 411, 61 l, 811 and 1011kPa.

Part 1, where the nominal thickness of the dished end was used, but seems more
realistic in that the mean measured thickness was always significantly higher than
the nominal value.
P0.2y. from BS 4994 (column 4) was calculated as in Part 1 using the extensibility
in bend (derived in the improved manner) and the mean measured weight of glass in
the torisphere. The corresponding value from BOSOR 4 (column 5) is defined as
that pressure at which the maximum predicted strain in the torisphere is equal to
0-2 %. A similar definition applies to the experimental value (column 6). Failure
pressures from BOSOR 4 are defined as the pressure at which the maximum
predicted stress is equal to the derived UTS in tension (Table 4, column 11) for the
cylinder, or in bend (Table 4, column 12) for the torisphere. Burst pressures from
BS4994 use corresponding UTUS values and the mean weight of glass in the
cylinder and torisphere, respectively.

DISCUSSION

Material property tests

The results of the tension and four-point bend tests for vessels 11-14 displayed
similar trends to those observed for the previous ten vessels. Modulus and
extensibility were lower in bend than in tension and, particularly in bend, tended to
decrease with decreasing thickness. On the other hand, UTS and UTUS values were
higher in bend than in tension except for the thinnest laminate (vessel 11) where they
 TABLE 5
SUMMARY OF PREDICTED AND MEASURED RESULTS FOR VESSELS 1 1 - 1 4
~7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Vessel SCF SNCF Po.2~/oJor torisphere P,, (kPa)
relerence /rom jrom (kPa)
No. BOSOR 4 BOSOR 4 Cylinder Torisphere
BS 4994 BOSOR 4 Expt. BS 4994 BOSOR 4 Expt. BS 4994 BOSOR 4 Expt. 0
Z
1.38 ¢l) 1.88 tt)
II 88 121 117 1130 952 845 684 1330
1.0912~ 1.46 (2)
(±5)
1-5511) 1.98 (1)
12 188 229 191 2020 1840 1220 1470 2120
1.39 (2) 1.75 (2)
(±1o)
t~ 2.04(~) 2.52(~) Z
~, 13 1.84~2 ) 2.24 (2) 146 171 184 2030 1930 -- 1110 1470 1030
( ± i0)
1.98 (~) 2.44 (~)
14 184 193 201 2130 1870 -- 1430 1650 1300
1-83(2) 2.21 (2)
(_+25)

~1) At approximately 0.2 9~, maximum strain.

t2) Close to burst.
 TORISPHERICALENDS FOR GRP pp~ssu~ VESSELS 47

were less. However, it is thought unlikely that strength results for the latter in bend
are accurate due to the large deflections occurring for these thin specimens near
failure. All values of ultimate strain were greater in bend.

Vessel tests
(1) Thickness distributions (Fig. 3): As before, there is reasonable consistency
between the two meridians measured in each case. Each vessel is thickened to some
extent in the torus region and is generally thicker in the torisphere than the cylinder.
Vessels 11 and 12, in particular, show a large increase in thickness centred on a
region just on the knuckle side of the sphere/torus junction. This is presumably due
to a build-up of overlaps of successive glass mat layers which occurs during
manufacture. Of the four, vessel 13 is probably the most uniform, particularly along
the strain-gauged meridian.
(2) Measured and derived properties (Table 4): The mean thicknesses in
column 3 of Table 4 confirm the trend suggested by the thickness plots, all vessels
being, on average, significantly thicker in the torisphere than in the cylinder. It can
be seen that it is, in fact, the five-layer specimen (vessel 11) that comes nearest in the
dished end to the nominal thickness of 10 mm. The measured weight of glass per unit
surface area (column 4) was also greater in the torisphere in each case, but the
percentage glass contents (column 5) and the specific thicknesses (column 6) both
indicate that the proportion of glass to resin was less. As usual, percentage glass
contents are considerably less than for the corresponding flat panels. The
thicknesses of the resin-rich layer on the inside surface (column 7) were roughly
twice those on the outside (column 8). Both thicknesses tended to be higher than
those measured for the flat panels, the overall mean values for which were 0.8 mm
and 0.3 mm, respectively (see reference 8).
The derived properties shown in columns 9 to 12 of the Table accurately reflect the
major trends observed in the results from the flat panel tests. Values of modulus in
bend (column 10) are lower than those in tension (column 9) and are particularly low
for vessel 11. UTS values in bend (column 12) are higher than in tension
(column 11).
(3) Comparison of experimental and theoretical deformations (Figs 4, 5 and 6):
Considering first the strain distributions shown in Figs 4 and 5, it can be seen that the
overall pattern of experimental results is well predicted by BOSOR 4, even at the
highest pressure. The main discrepancy occurs near the pole where the strain gauge
readings suggest a high degree of bending, which is theoretically not present. The
maximum measured strain is, as predicted, that on the inside surface in a meridional
direction at a position near the centre of the torus region. At the lowest pressure
loading (211 kPa), which corresponds to a maximum strain of about 0.2 %, the
measured strains in the torus are slightly less than predicted. In contrast, for the
maximum pressure (1011 k Pa) they are generally greater. This is due to the gradual
reduction of the tangent modulus of CSM GRP which occurs at strains above
48 D . C . BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

approximately 0-3 ~o and which BOSOR 4, of course, ignores. However, as can be

seen, the discrepancy caused by this effect is not large and, in the torus of these
vessels, is offset by the deformation of the geometry into a stronger shape. Thus, in
fact, the net increase of experimental strain with pressure is approximately linear.
Similar trends were observed for all vessels tested to date. Although BOSOR 4
always underestimated the maximum strains near to burst, the discrepancy was
never very much larger than that observed at low pressures. However, in general, the
agreement was much better for vessels 11 to 14 than for previous vessels because a
different modulus was used in BOSOR 4 for each of vessels 11 to 14, the value being
that derived in bend using the improved method. The conclusion, then, is that, if a
fairly representative estimate of the Young's modulus of the vessel material is used,
the BOSOR 4 analysis is valid and will give reasonably accurate results even close to
the vessel failure pressure. This is confirmed by the plot of experimental and
theoretical radial deflections shown in Fig. 6. Here, BOSOR 4 in fact slightly
overestimates the maximum deflection for this vessel near the pole even at the
highest pressure. It would seem that the reduction in stiffness near the position of
maximum strain in the torus is not greatly affecting the displacements measured in
the sphere. The inward (negative) deflections in the knuckle are quite well defined
experimentally and good agreement is obtained with the theoretical predictions,
especially at low pressures. It is interesting that, for the final pressure increment,
only a small increase in deflection in the torus is recorded on the right-hand side of
the pole (the strain-gauge meridian) but that a much larger one occurs on the left-
hand side. This is due to an increase in the rate of tilting of the vessel--as can be seen
from examination of the readings from neighbouring transducers in the cylinder and
sphere--and was a common feature of displacements plots at high pressures.
(4) Summary of predicted and measured results (Table 5): The SCF and SNCF
values (columns 2 and 3) based on BOSOR 4 predictions using the measured wall
thickness along the strain gauge meridian are all less than the values at 0.2
maximum strain for a uniform thickness end (t = l0 mm) shown in Table 2. This is
mainly due to the fact that, because of the method of construction, the thickness at
the position of maximum stress or strain tends to be greater than the mean for the
dished end as a whole. Thus it would seem that, at least for these vessels, SCF's and
SNCF's for a uniform wall thickness will be higher than for the thickness variation
occurring in practice, even when SCF's and SNCF's for the latter case are calculated
using the mean measured thickness for the torisphere thickness in eqns (6) and (7) of
Part 1 rather than the nominal (or minimum) value.
Although representative properties were derived in a somewhat different manner,
the predicted values for Po.2% and Punt from BS4994 and BOSOR 4 confirm the
trends observed for the first six vessels covered in Part I. However, the agreement
between predicted and measured values of P0.2 %is generally much better for the four
vessels considered here, probably because the property values used were more
realistic. All values of/'0.2~ and PuJt from BS 4994 using realistic mean material
 TORISPHERICAL ENDS FOR GRP PRESSURE VESSELS 49

properties and measured weights of glass are much greater than those calculated
using the nominal values shown in Table 1, Despite the greater weight of glass in the
torisphere compared with that in the cylinder and the greater strength in bend,
failure pressures from BS 4994 in each case are still much lower for the dished end
than for the cylinder. Values of Po.2% and Puit predicted by BOSOR 4 for the
torisphere are greater than those from BS 4994, particularly for vessels 11 and 12 of
geometry D design. This latter is mainly due to the discrepancy in the shape factor
from BS 4994 for this geometry. Values of Punt in the cylinder are lower from
BOSOR 4 because the program takes account of the stress-raising effect of local
thickness variations in the meridional direction. The net results of these differences is
that the BOSOR 4 failure pressure in the torisphere is only lower than the
corresponding value in the cylinder for vessels 13 and 14--i.e. BOSOR 4 predicts a
cylinder failure for vessels 11 and 12. However, although the maximum stress was in
the cylinder for these vessels, the maximum strain predicted by BOSOR 4 was still in
the torus.
As can be seen from the.actual burst pressures given in the Table, vessels 11 and 12
did, in fact, fail in the cylinder. The mode of failure in each case was very similar to
that described for vessels 1,2 and 3 in Part 1. Both experimental failure pressures are
less than predicted by either BS 4994 or BOSOR 4. As discussed in Part 1, this is to
be expected because of the simplifications in the theoretical model and the use of
mean, rather than minimum, properties and glass contents.
Vessels 13 and 14 both failed in the knuckle of the dished end. The appearance of
the fracture was similar to that described for vessels 4, 5 and 6 in Part 1. The main
crack through the gel coat on the inside surface for vessel 13 was at a meridional
distance of about 580 mm from the pole, very close to the position of maximum
theoretical (and experimental) stress and strain for the measured thickness
variation, as shown in Fig. 7. The meridional distance for the corresponding crack in
vessel 14 was about 610 mm--i.e, much closer to the tangent line. This region is still
highly stressed on the inside surface although theoretically the position of maximum
stress and strain is as for vessel 13. Far more circumferential surface resin cracks
could be seen on the inside surface of the knuckle for vessel 14 and they extended
further around the circumference. This, together with the high burst pressure
recorded in this case (column 12), suggests that more non-catastrophic damage was
allowed to accumulate before the vessel ultimately failed. More energy also seemed
to be released at failure for this vessel since a complete segment was blown out from
the main body of the specimen, as shown in Fig. 8.
The fact that, of the fourteen vessels tested to date, five have failed first in the
cylinder has not made it easy to compare different geometries by considering burst
pressures alone. However, this can be done for the two geometries with r i / D ~ = O. 1 ;
namely, geometry C with h i / D i -= 0-19 and geometry E with h i / D ~ -~ 0-25. The mean
burst pressures for the two nine-layer vessels tested in each case were 990 kPa for
geometry C and 1165 kPa for geometry E. The ratio between these values is not very
 50 D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

80
T ] T F T T l l F
Posalon of fmlure -'~ I Pos~honof fodure

-~- Sphere Torus "

Cyll-der

4o_ ~ \ / 1! /';,/" ~-~, -

•~ _ - . "'~, / I I / .~ _ ,~ ~"-
20-- - \ \ I ,

o ~

-20

\ / . . . .

-40
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Meridionol disfonce from po(e mm
(a)

1.0

0"8
Sphere l_ Cytinder

0-6-- . i / " ~ ' ~ ' ~ - --

o.4_ _ ,r_l"j \-

o I I I t'\,, it eli I i,,,,~-v- ~J ...

x, \ Ii~ ~"
-0"2 '\~ "~,11'
-- 'X\\. " ~ J / ~ Inside surfoce / . .
'\", t I - - ' - - Outside surfaceI Mer,a,ona,
-0"4 _ "\x.x,,~ . . . . . inside surfo.ce [ Circumferentml
- - - - Outside surfQce J
-0"6 t ] I I ~ I I I I I
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Mtridionol distonce from pole mm
(b)
Fig. 7. Predictions of B O S O R 4 for vessel 13 (measured thickness) at P = 1011 kPa. (a) Distribution of
surface stress. (b) Distribution o f surface strain.
 TORISPHERICALENDS FOR G R P PRESSURE VESSELS 51

Approximofe origin of fQilure

Fig. 8. Vessel 14 after failure.

different from the inverse ratio of the K s factors in BS 4994 which are 2.85 and 2.25,
respectively. A torisphere burst pressure was also obtained for one specimen
(vessel 4) of geometry B design (rJD i = 0.19, hi/D~ = 0"25, K~ = 1.80) and this, at
1575 kPa, also suggests that the relative values of Ks are about right as far as failure
is concerned.

CONCLUSIONS

The theoretical and experimental results from the group of vessels reported here
confirm all the major conclusions from the previous group discussed in Part 1. In
addition, the following remarks may be made.
(1) According to BS4994, both geometry D (rJD~=O.146) and geometry E
(r~/D~ = 0.1) qualify for the higher shape factor of the two specified for the head
52 D. C. BARTON, P. D. SODEN, S. S. GILL

height under consideration ( h J D i = 0.25). However, the results from BOSOR 4

indicate that this factor is too high for geometry D which is, in fact, of similar
strength to geometry B ( r J D i --0.188). If ri/D~ for geometry D were specified as
0.151, rather than 0.146, the Standard then allows the use of the lower shape factor
even though this increase of knuckle radius will make a negligible difference to the
strength. This is a direct consequence of the tabular method of presenting shape
factors in BS 4994.
(2) An improved method which takes account of both differences in the
percentage glass content and the effects of the resin-rich surface layers has been used
to estimate more realistic properties for the vessel material. Using the derived
Young's modulus in bend for each vessel in BOSOR 4 seemed to improve the
correlation between theoretical and experimental deformations. In addition, it has
been shown that the BOSOR 4 analysis gives reasonable predictions of the
maximum strains right up to the vessel burst pressure and that, providing large-scale
tilting of the vessel does not occur, deflections can also be predicted with a similar
accuracy.
(3) Of the four vessels reported here, only those two of geometry E design in fact
ruptured in the dished end rather than in the cylinder. This was partly due to the
generally greater thickness in the torisphere~ and partly to change of geometry
effects. Thus, only three end geometries of the total of five considered to date can he
compared directly on burst pressures alone, these being geometry B (ri/D~ = 0-188,
h i/D ~= 0.25), geometry C (r i/D~ = O. 1, h i/D~ = 0.19) and geometry E (r i/D i = O. 1,
hi/D ~=0.25). The pressures recorded for these geometries confirm the trend
suggested by the shape factors in BS 4994 which indicate geometry C to be the
weakest and geometry B the strongest.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was carried out in the Applied Mechanics Division of the Mechanical
Engineering Department, University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology. Finance was provided by the Polymer Engineering Directorate of the
Science Research Council, to whom the authors are duly grateful. The authors
would also like to thank Plastics Design & Engineering Ltd, who manufactured the
specimens, Scott Bader Ltd, who supplied the resin, and Fibreglass Ltd, who
provided the glass fibre. Mr B. D. Gray of P.D. & E. Ltd and representatives of Scott
Bader Ltd have given guidance and advice throughout. Acknowledgement is also
due to Dr D. Bushnell of the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company for the use of
the computer program BOSOR 4 and to Professor G.D. Galletly of Liverpool
University who made the program available in immediately usable form.
 TORISPHERICAL ENDS FOR GRP PRF_.~URE VESSELS 53

REFERENCES

I. ANON., BS4994. Specification for Vessels and Tanks in Reinforced Plastics, British Standards
Institution, 1973.
2. HUGIiES,D. A., BARTON,D. C., SODEN,P. D. and GILL, S. S. The effect of thickness/diameter ratio on
the structural behaviour of the torispherical ends of glass reinforced plastic cylindrical pressure
vessels, North Western Branch of I.Chem.E. and I.Mech.E. Joint Symposium on Reinforced Plastic
Constructed Equipment in the Chemical Process Industry, Manchester, 1950.
3. BARTON,D. C., SODEN,P. D. and GILL, S. S. The strength and deformations of torispherical ends for
glass-reinforced plastic pressure vessels--Part l : Effect of torus radius/cylinder diameter ratio on ends
with sphere radius equal to cylinder diameter, Int..L Pres. Ves. & Piping, 9 (1951), pp. 285-318.
4. ANON., BS5276. Specification for Pressure Vessel Details (Dimensions). Part 4: Standardized
Pressure Vessels, British Standards Institution, 1977.
5. ANON., AD-Merkblatt NI. Pressure Vessels in Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastics, Vereinigung der
Technischen Uberwachungs-Vereine e.v. (VdTUV), Essen, West Germany, 1969.
6. BUSHNELL,D., Stress, stability and vibration of complex branched shells of revolution, Comp. and
3truct., 4 09?4), pp. 399--437.
7. BARTON,D. C. Ph.D. Thesis, Faculty of Technology, University of Manchester, 1951.
8. BARTON,D. C. and SODEN, P. D. An investigation of the short-term in-plane stiffness and strength
properties of chopped strand mat reinforced polyester laminates, Composites 0952), in press.