Development of high performance CFRP shell structures for the pixel detector in the ATLAS experiment at CERN

The “Large Hadron Collider (LHC)” which will be the world's largest and most powerful accelerator and particle collider for particle research experiments is planned to start operation at CERN in 2007. The reported work includes the development of three interleaved cylindrical CFRP shell support structures for a high-resolution detector device within an experimental test equipment named ATLAS, which will be installed into LHC. As the shell structures will be positioned only a few centimetres apart from the point of particle collision, an ultra-light weight component design with extremely tight geometrical tolerances, applying composite materials with extreme stiffness and high radiation hardness is stipulated. The article describes the development of these structures including the design of all components and the manufacturing technology to be used. Furthermore, it reports on geometry testing efforts on a prototype structure to prove the design concept and to derive optimisation potential.