A study for the oil & gas sector (extraction), verifying by finite elements the earlier analytical work that compared layup strategies for a composite pipe.
Phase 1 — building the response surface
Starting from the layup retained by the analytical study, a portion of the pipe was modelled (a simplification of the full model) and a large number of FE runs executed, varying internal pressure, external pressure and axial load, in order to establish a response surface — a performance envelope in the axial force / pressure plane.
Main contribution: development of a Python–Abaqus tool automating a large part of the process — model generation, launching the static and buckling analyses, extraction of the LaRC05 criteria and the eigenvalues, through to determining the governing failure mode.
![Figure 1 - Illustrative Failure envelope chart reproduced form [1] and [2]](/assets/failure_envelope.png)
Figure 1 - Illustrative Failure envelope chart reproduced form [1] and [2]
Phase 2 — reading the envelope back to the material
Extension to additional material data sets. Main contribution: demonstrating a direct link between certain material properties and certain zones of the response surface, with the corresponding equations calculated and interpreted; and establishing a partial link between the longitudinal compressive limit and the microbuckling index of the LaRC05 criterion, whose evolutions are broadly non-linear.
For the zones less directly predictable from the material data, a search algorithm was developed to locate the failure point.
References
[1] S. Pinho, R. Darvizeh, P. Robinson, C. Schuecker, et P. Camanho, « Material and structural response of polymer-matrix fibre-reinforced composites », Journal of Composite Materials, vol. 46, nᵒ 19‑20, p. 2313‑2341, sept. 2012, doi: 10.1177/0021998312454478.
[2] P. Shabani, L. Li, J. Laliberte, et G. Qi, « Enhanced LaRC05 failure criteria for investigating low-velocity impact on fiber-reinforced composites: An experimental and computational study », Aerospace Science and Technology, vol. 155, p. 109554, déc. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.ast.2024.109554.