Optimum design of a toroidal pressure vessel of composite material for gas (CNG) powered vehicles

Abstract

OIn the present work a design is made, using numerical

simulations, with the finite element method (FEM) a linear

elastic analysis will be performed for the optimal design of a

toroidal pressure vessel resistant, lightweight and capable of

storing compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles.

For the design the material AS / 3501 (carbon fiber and epoxy

matrix) is used, since there are studies that indicate that, with

this type of material, high resistances and better performance

have been obtained than with metallic materials.

In the analysis, the influence exerted by the angular orientation

of the sheets on the strength of the laminate will be

determined, as well as the variation of tension, deformation

and displacement that occurs in the toroid when subjected to

pressure, until the criterion of failure indicate it.

The optimization of the volume of the material, will be made

with the metaheuristic algorithm called Particles Swarm

Optimization (PSO), which will use Threads in Java for the

execution of the scripts developed in ANSYS for the analysis

of the FEM and with which will be reduced computing times

improving to the optimizer.