Nonlinear Failure Analysis on Pressurized Cylindrical Shell Using Finite Element Method: Comparison of Theoretical and Experimental Data

The structural integrity of the accumulator is critical to the reliability of the hydro-pneumatic system, which requires accurate prediction of the burst pressure of its high-strength cylindrical shell. Based on the plastic instability failure criterion, the burst pressure and failure location of the cylindrical shell were investigated using 3D nonlinear finite element analysis. The progressive failure mechanism of the pressurized cylinder was discussed in detail. A total of twenty-five cylindrical shells of different sizes were selected for the parametric study, which suggests that the burst pressure increases with decreasing the diameter and increasing the wall thickness, and the shell length has no effect on the failure pressure. The accuracy of FEA predictions is validated by experimental data, and the minimum relative error is only 0.69%, which is much lower than that of the empirical formula. This means that the numerical model is reliable and can be employed as a basis for the structural design of the accumulator.