Free vibration analysis of CFRP cylinders with torispherical heads: Experimental and numerical investigations

Pressure vessels are used in a variety of applications in many engineering applications. The thin walled cylinders with torispherical heads have been widely used as pressure vessels in engineering applications. In this paper, the free vibration behavior of carbon fiber reinforced composite cylinders ended with torispherical heads with various boundary conditions is investigated. The shape of a torispherical head is consists of a sphere of large radius and a much smaller minor radius at the knuckle. The numerical calculation with finite element method is obtained and the results were compared with the experimental data to confirm the accuracy of the numerical solution. The acceptable accordance between experimental and numerical results leads to use of numerical model instead of expensive experimental tests. In addition, the effects of the thickness of torispherical head and cylindrical section and the lengths of cylinder and torispherical head on vibrational behavior of the structure are studied.