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An investigation into the reaction behavior of tubular

braids due to internal pressure
a a a
Jalil Hajrasouliha , Mohammad Sheikhzadeh & Saeed Ajeli
a
Department of Textile Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Published online: 20 Jan 2014.

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To cite this article: Jalil Hajrasouliha, Mohammad Sheikhzadeh & Saeed Ajeli (2014) An investigation into the
reaction behavior of tubular braids due to internal pressure, The Journal of The Textile Institute, 105:7, 729-735, DOI:
10.1080/00405000.2013.847227

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 The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2014
Vol. 105, No. 7, 729–735, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2013.847227

An investigation into the reaction behavior of tubular braids due to internal pressure
Jalil Hajrasouliha*, Mohammad Sheikhzadeh and Saeed Ajeli
Department of Textile Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
(Received 6 February 2013; accepted 16 September 2013)

Braiding has many applications in different industries as an internal pressurized cylinder. In these conditions, a sustainable
structure without any wrinkling and unevenness is quite necessary. Using thin wall structures with closed ends and under
internal pressures as a braid is addressed in the present study. With the use of a silicon vessel as the core, the braids with
different angles and weavings were produced. They were exposed to internal pressure from zero to failure point. All stages
of change in the shapes of the samples were recorded by a camera and the pressure–diameter results were extracted in 10 s
once. In this research, the authors elaborate on the theory of stress and wrinkling moment created in these braids under
internal pressure, and then they develop a new testing method by which they compare the obtained results with the theory.
Following that, the relationship between the angle and failure pressure is investigated to determine the best braid angle in
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braiding used as thin wall structures. In the braid angle of ± 55°, all the forces created in braid due to internal pressure
are along with strands direction and the increase in the cylinder diameter of the braid has been completely controlled
depending on strands’ elongation. The rate of diameter increase in the angles of less than ± 55° is fast, especially in
pressures close to failure pressure. However, in the bigger angles, the elongation or, in other words, the diameter decrease
is observed in braiding.
Keywords: braiding; weaving; braid angle; thin-walled vessels; internal pressure; wrinkling moment

Introduction Brunnschweiler (1954) assessed tensile features of

It is possible to produce tanks, pressure vessels, and
piping systems with high degrees of resistance against
pressure, high flexibility, firmness, and light weight
through the use of textiles with geometrical structures.
Therefore, the use of textiles in making tanks, pressure
vessels, and piping systems has received special attention
today. These under-pressurized tanks and vessels are
strengthened with different materials, depending on their
applications. Among different textiles, braiding has many
advantages as compared to others, including high
strength, formability, and appropriate shaping, easy and
fast production, different cross-sections, helical move-
ment of strands, and more important unlimited and flexi-
bility of angles among strands. All these advantages help
braiding have many applications in different industries.
The angle in weaving is only 90°, while in braiding it is
possible to have structures with different mechanical
properties and a vast range of angles (from 10° to 85°).
This angle, called braid angle, is shown with β
as observed in Figure 1, below (Karine, Rachid,
Oussama, & Francois, 2005; Potluri, Rawal, Rivaldi, &
Porat, 2003).
Producing light weight pressurized and thin-walled
structures is among many applications of braid. The
results of studies performed in this field are of high
importance.
braid structures in different angles using a tensile test
machine model T42. They found that the length of fail-
ure of a braid is at least 50% more than the failure
length of the fiber used in that braid. Moreover, by
increasing the number of plaits per inch in one point, the
elongation to failure point is also increased. The position
of this point depends on the secant of the initial angle
among strands and the braid axis.
Rattensperger, Eberhardsteiner, and Mang (2003)
investigated the behavior of high-pressure hydraulic
hoses with steel wire braid, and finally compared numer-
ical testing methods with the results of tests.
Huang (2000) investigated the mechanical properties
of composites reinforced with woven and braided fabrics
using a micromechanical model. They also assessed the
elastic and plastic behavior and the final strength of these
composites with the use of mechanical analysis on these
fabrics and their composites.
In another paper by Thomas and Wielgosz (2004),
the rate of changing shape resulting from bending in
tube-shaped fabrics under air pressure was investigated
with the use of a counterweight hang on its center.
Finally, the accuracy of the obtained results was tested
with the use of finite element method.
Nakai, Fujita, Yokoyamaf, and Hamada (1995) ana-
lyzed the torsion and bending properties of a braided

*Corresponding author. Email: j.hajrasouliha@tx.iut.ac.ir

© 2014 The Textile Institute

 730 J. Hajrasouliha et al.

and writing the static balance relations, we can obtain

the hoop and axial stresses of a thin wall vessel which is
under internal pressure (P) as follows:
print
r1 ¼ ; (1)
t
print
r2 ¼ ; (2)
2t
where t is the wall thickness of the vessel.
Therefore, Equations (1) and (2) in a thin wall vessel
with the two closed ends give the following Equation (3)
(Popov & Igor, 1999):
r1  2r2 : (3)

Development of model: the tubular braiding structure

as the thin wall vessels under internal pressure
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Figure 1. Braid angle position. A schematic of a tubular structure together with Carte-
sian coordinates system (x, y, z) under internal pressure
P is observed in Figure 2.
composites cylinder using solid mechanic. They calcu- The strands are put together, as can be observed in
lated the maximum forces pushed on these composites in Figure 3, to form a tubular braid. It is possible to use
torsion and bending to reach the first fracture in the com- parallel strands in the structure called axial strands.
posites. Those strands which are put together with an angle are
In some recent studies, different aspects of fabrics called bias strands. In Figure 3, only bias strands with
tubular structures used in composites have been analyzed the angle ± β have been used (it should be noted that in
with the use of various software (Cho, Song, & Choi, this system there are two bias angles of the same number
2006; Hachemi, Kebir, Roelandt, & Wintrebert, 2011; and at the opposite side of each other).
Stephen & Jeffrey, 2012).
This paper tends to illustrate a theory by which the
behavior of tubular braiding structures as the thin-walled
structures with the two closed ends could be investi-
gated. This investigation could be in terms of the
relationship between the created stress and the moment
with various braid angles for different pressures up to
the failure point of the braid. Following that, the numeri-
cal solutions will be compared with the test results.

Analysis of pressure vessels using thin wall theory

In the pressurized thin-walled vessels, the wall of the Figure 2. A view of the internal pressurized cylinder.
vessel acts as a membrane (the layers that cannot tolerate
bending are called membranes and those stresses calcu-
lated regardless of bending are called membrane stres-
ses). In a tubular vessel, the thickness ratio is defined as
the ratio of external radial to internal radial in a pressur-
ized vessel.
For these pressurized vessels, as this ratio is less than
1.1, the thin-walled structure model is used. In
this model, the radial stress is assumed to be zero
(Rattensperger et al., 2003). In other words, the hoop
stress (r1 ) and axial stress (r2 ) are assumed to be con-
stant through the thickness. Through passing two vertical Figure 3. A three-dimensional view (in the left) of a tubular
sheets on tubular axis and a longitudinal sheet along axis braid and the top view (right).
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 731

With regard to Figure 2 and the internal pressure P, Brown, Haggard, and Norton (2001) obtained wrin-
the total force along the x-direction Fx:tot is obtained kling moment resulting from the imposed pressure, as
from the equation below: compared to neutral axis (Mw ) in tubular braid structure
as follows:
Fx:tot ¼ ppr2 : (4)  
2
According to netting theory (Rothwell, 1969), the Mw ¼ ppr3 1  2 : (11)
tan b
relationship between the created stress in x-direction rx
and the stress in strands direction rs is calculated accord- If Mw = 0, then we will have:
ing to:
tan2 b ¼ 2; (12)
rx ¼ cos brs ;
2
(5)
b ¼ 54:7 :
ry ¼ sin brs :
2
(6) In other words, with regard to the total stress on
Equations (5) and (6) are acceptable only if the strands as well as the created moment in tubular braid
pushed forces act along the braid strands; otherwise they structure, there would be no moment for wrinkling in
are not valid (Rothwell, 1969). braid in the angle of ± 54.7.
The relation between strain in strand direction es:i
and stress in x-direction for one strand rxs:i equals:
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Materials and tests

Es cos2 bes:i In order to produce different braiding and weaving sam-
rxs:i ¼ : (7)
2 ples, the polyester multi-filament yarn with specifications
The total forces pushed on strands in x-direction are in Table 1 was used.
equal to the sum of every single stress on every single A thin-walled vessel made of silicon with the inner
strand. Therefore, we would have: diameter of 8 mm and thickness of 1 mm was used to
place yarns on it (braid and weaving core). The length
2As X n
of covered thin-walled vessel for each sample was deter-
Fx:tot ¼ rxs:i ; (8)
cos b i¼1 mined to be 21 cm.
Figure 4 shows a schematic of braided vessel.
where n is the number of strands in one direction. Since
The utilized braiding machine includes 16 carriers,
the strands make angle β with x-axis, the projection of
and through keeping the rotational speed of carriers
their cross-sectional area on the yz plane must be used,
As
and therefore in Equation (8) the formula cos b has been
used. Table 1. Specifications of yarn used in producing samples.
Through replacing Equation (7) in Equation (8), the Strength
following formula is obtained: Yarn in failure Elongation
Yarn count Number of point in failure Density
X
np
type (tex) monofilaments (g/tex) point (%) (gr/cm3)
Fx;tot ¼ As Es cos b es:i : (9)
i¼1 Polyester 11.1 48 32.85 22 1.38
By considering the previous equations and the angles
between the strands, the stress along the strands rs is
calculated as follows:
2ppr2 cos b
rs ¼ : (10)
nAs
With the use of this important equation, it is possible
to measure and obtain the total tensile stress in the strands.
Since the braid has two series of strands along +β
and –β to the braid axis and the number of strands are
equal to n, if we want to prevent any wrinkling moment
(that causes braid bending) in braid structure toward neu-
tral axis the stress in each of the +β and –β angles
should be equal to neutralize the effect of each other and
prevent the braid from wrinkling. All this is because the
system is symmetrical. Figure 4. A view of the braided vessels with two closed ends.
 732 J. Hajrasouliha et al.

constant and changing speed according to Equation (13) Table 3. Specifications of the produced weaving samples.
it is possible to produce braids with different angles. The
Sample Weft density on Weight of weft yarn used on
specifications of the produced braids are shown in number machine (cm−1) vessel (mgr)
Table 2.
1W 7 61
rx
tan b ¼ : (13) 2W 10.5 86
v
Note: W: Weaving.

Figure 5 shows a view of the produced braids with

different angles.
Since it was not possible in the braiding system to
have an angle of 90°, two weaving samples with differ-
ent amounts of weft density were produced. In order to
produce weaving samples by a weaving machine with a
dobby system, eight healds and use a special design on
healds for weaving fabrics were produced as tubular
shape on the machine. The specifications have been
brought in Table 3.
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It is worth mentioning here that in both of these sam-

ples, the warp density was very low and it was only
enough to act as a carrier for weft yarns.
It should be mentioned that after producing weaving
samples, the vessels were placed in them as shown in
Figure 6. Figure 6. Weaving produced samples.
In order to perform tests, a structure was needed to
install a camera, a barometer, and the sample simulta-
neously. Therefore, the structure in Figure 7 was In a 21-cm distance from the sample on top of the
designed and made to perform tests. structure, a SX110 IS Canon camera has been placed for
recording from the beginning of entering air into the
Table 2. Specifications of the produced braid samples. sample to the failure time. Beside the sample, as it is
observed in Figure 7, there is a barometer with the
Sample Weight of yarn used on vessel Braid angle
number (mgr) (°)
capacity of 10 bar and the accuracy of 0.01 bar for
measuring the pressure in every moment. The sample
1B 40 23 with the length of 21 cm has been placed on its own
2B 42 28 place, in one side the hole of the vessel has been closed
3B 49 39
4B 58 47 and in another side, while being closed it is connected to
5B 63 55
6B 76 60
7B 93 68
Note: B: Braid.

Figure 7. Designed structure for installing camera, barometer,

Figure 5. Different samples of produced braids. and sample.
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 733

Figure 8. Different stages of determining diameter and air pressure in a sample at a specified time. (a) The stage when frame is
selected for performing image processing. (b) Reading pressure stage and specifying the sample for the program to determine the
diameter. (c) Performing binary operations through the written program in MATLAB and obtaining the average diameter of the vessel
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at that time.

an air compressor with the maximum capacity of produc- The reason is that in the small angles, according to
ing 10 bar pressure. Equation (11), the amount of ð1  tan22 bÞ will be
As a result, the air is entered into the sample with a increased, and as a result in every pressure the wrinkling
constant rate and in each moment, the inner pressure of moment in the braided vessel would be very high. The
sample is increased. All these changes including the braided vessel should indicate this wrinkling moment as
change in diameter and pressure are registered by the a length increase or diameter increase. However, since in
camera. Finally, in 10 s, a frame is derived from each these small angles, the strands are mostly in longitudinal
film. By using image processing technique, the average direction, most changes could happen in the diameter.
diameter of the vessel together with the air pressure in Therefore, by increasing the internal pressure in the
the sample at that time is read. braided vessel, the moment would increase and get close
An example is the operations performed for a braid to failure pressures. The rate of diameter will increase
sample, as shown in Figure 8. and the braided vessel can be faster. As indicated in
Therefore, for all frames of braid and weaving sam- Figure 9, for the angles of ± 23° and ± 28°, it is more
ples, the above mentioned procedures in Figure 8 should obvious that in the pressures of about 1.5 bar the trend
be performed. Following the data extraction on diameter of the diameter increase of the braided vessel is faster
and air pressure in the sample for each frame, the air pres- and the diagram moves toward a curve shape. The more
sure–diameter diagram has been drawn for each sample. the braid angles’ increase, the more the amount of
ð1  tan22 bÞ decrease, and in the lower pressures the
Results and discussion
In this study, with the use of a silicon vessel as the core,
braids with different angles and weaving were produced.
They were exposed to internal pressure from zero to fail-
ure point. All the stages of change in shapes of the sam-
ples were recorded by a camera and the pressure–
diameter results were extracted in 10 s once. The results
of braid samples have been shown in Figure 9.
As can be observed in Figure 9, the row sample (ves-
sel without braid) was torn and failed in the minimum
pressure and maximum diameter conditions. The more
the braid angle of the sample, the more the pressure in
failure point and the diameter at failure point are
decreased. The important point observed in Figure 9 is
the movement toward a linear relationship between pres-
sure and diameter with an increase in braid angle. Figure 9. Pressure – diameter diagram of braid samples.
 734 J. Hajrasouliha et al.

amount of wrinkling moment in the braided vessel could Table 4. Pressure and diameter specifications in failure point
be rather low. and the weight of the yarn on braid and weaving samples.
With the increase in the pressure, the moment would Diameter Weight of Angles of
also increase slowly as is obvious in diagrams. For the Pressure in failure yarn on strands
braids with the angles of ± 39° and ± 47°, the diagram in failure point samples locations
would be close to a straight line. In the pressures close to Samples point (bar) (mm) (mgr) (β) K
failure point, as the moment has increased the rate of diam- 1B 2.2 15.9 40 23° 0.055
eter growth to the rate of pressure, there is more increase, 2B 2.4 15.7 42 28° 0.058
and in the final parts the diagram shows a little curvature. 3B 3 13.2 49 39° 0.061
In ± 55°, there is no moment for wrinkling and this is 4B 3.7 12.3 58 47° 0.063
5B 4.1 12 63 55° 0.065
because the ð1  tan22 bÞ at this angle is almost zero. In this
6B 4.7 9.2 76 60° 0.061
angle, the whole created forces are in line with strands 7B 5.3 8.9 93 68° 0.057
direction; therefore, the diameter increase is directly 1W 3 13.4 61 90° 0.0499
dependent on the length increase in strands. This is why a 2W 4.3 11.9 86 90° 0.051
completely controlled trend in diameter increase is
observed. In other words, the rate of diameter increase and
pressure from the beginning to the failure point is almost
constant, and therefore the braid diagram with the angle
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of ± 55° is almost a straight line. It should be noted that

this angle is related to the time when a thin-walled vessel
with the two closed ends is used in which r1  2r2 .
From this angle onward, the diagram shape is in
descending trend. This is because of the length increase
due to the pressure increase. In other words, in the
angles of more than ± 55°, the amount of ð1  tan22 bÞ will
again increase. The difference between angles of more
than ± 55° and the lower angles is that in the upper
angles the strands direction is along the vertical position
to the braided vessel axis and the density of yarns in the
area is more. All these reasons mean that in angles of
more than ± 55° in the low pressures (about 1.2 bar), the
braided vessel starts to become wrinkled as it is along Figure 10. Amount of K for braid and weaving samples.
the length of the braided vessel and leads to the length
increase of the braided vessel or diameter decrease as
can be observed in diagrams. in the longitudinal and radial directions. When the weft
Table 4 includes pressure, diameter, and weight of the density increases the K parameter, it increases in these
yarn on braid and weaving samples. In this table, a col- samples. Finally, for the thin-walled pressurized vessels
umn has been defined and named K parameter which is: with the two ends closed, the best angle is ± 55° where
all forces are placed along strands. Therefore, due to the
pressure in failure point ðbarÞ
K¼ symmetry of the system in vessel, no wrinkling moment
weight of the yarn on the sample (gr) is created with the sample showing its highest resistance.

By dividing pressure-to-yarn weight on the testing

vessel, the effect of weight of the yarn is omitted and it
is possible to investigate the effect of braid angle on
pressure in failure point.
In Figure 10, the amount of K for all samples has
been drawn.
As observed in Figure 10, the maximum amount of
K is obtained in angle β = ± 55°. Figure 10 confirms the
previous results and the theory mentioned.
In the two weaving samples, it is observed that the
amount of K parameter is lower than in all braid sam-
ples, which is due to tolerating forces in these samples
Conclusion
In this paper, the behavior of tubular braiding was
assessed when it is used as a thin-walled structure with
the two ends closed against the internal pressures to the
failure point. In the first stage, by defining the related
theory of these structures and the relationship between
braid angle and stress and wrinkling moment in braid
due to the internal pressure, the best angle in these struc-
tures was determined. Finally, by performing a new test-
ing method and using image processing procedure, the
relationship between pressure and diameter for all sam-
 The Journal of The Textile Institute 735

ples of braids with different angles and weavings as a References

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ing to the deviation of the vessel from the direct posi-
tion. This is very important in braid structures or in
structures that use braids for strengthening since these
structures are not trustable any more in terms of applica-
tion when deviated from the direct position. So, this
should be prevented.
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