Fatigue Performance Evaluations of Vehicle Toroidal Liquefied Petroleum Gas Fuel Tanks

Abstract

In this study, fatigue performances of the vehicle toroidal liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuel tanks were examined to estimate the fatigue life and its failure locations using both experimental and finite element analysis (FEA) methods. The experimental investigations performed as accelerated fatigue tests were carried out using a hydraulics test unit in which the tanks were internally pressurized by hydraulic oil. The LPG tanks were subjected to repeated cyclic pressure load varying from zero to service pressure (SP) of the tank. The computerized FEA modeling of these tanks were developed in three-dimensional (3D) form using nonuniform geometrical parameters and nonlinear material properties. These models were also subjected to zero-based high cycle fatigue pressure load considering the stress life approach. The FEA modeling process was also simulated in nonhomogeneous material conditions. Therefore, the fatigue life performance and failure location of the toroidal LPG fuel tanks were predicted using the computer-aided simulations and compared with the experimental results.