Buckling of filament-wound composite cylinders subjected to hydrostatic pressure for underwater vehicle applications

The buckling and failure characteristics of moderately thick-walled filament-wound carbon–epoxy composite cylinders under external hydrostatic pressure were investigated through finite element analysis and testing for underwater vehicle applications. The winding angles were [±30/90]FW, [±45/90]FW and [±60/90]FW. ACOS, an in-house finite element program, successfully predicted the buckling pressure of filament-wound composite cylinders with 2 ∼ 23% deviation from the test results. The analysis and test results showed that the cylinders do not recover the initial buckling pressure after buckling and that this leads directly to the collapse. Major failure modes in the test were dominated by the helical winding angles.