Fiber-reinforced composite cylindrical vessel with lugs

The use of fiber-reinforced composites has steadily increased over the last few decades. Although the use of composites allows designers to optimize m aterial usage, the analysis becomes fairly complex. The present work deals with the analysis of composite Vessels subjected to concentrated moments applied at discrete lug positions. Finite element (FE) formulation has been used to study the stress variation in composite vesse ls with lug attachments. Stress indices have been developed for two differe nt load conditions, namely, longitudinal and circumferential moments. Numer ical data have been generated for rectangular lugs of varying sizes. Althou gh the numerical results presented here include one case of relatively thic k shell, they are particularly important for thin shells. Discussion relate d to rotations at the interface is not presented here. (C) 2001 Published b y Elsevier Science Ltd.