Novel material tailoring method for internally pressurized FG spherical and cylindrical vessels

A new material tailoring method for spherical and cylindrical vessels made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is presented. It is assumed that the FG material is composed of an Al–SiC metallic-matrix composite. A uniform ratio of in-plane shear stress to yield strength [(varphi left( r right) )] is used as the design criterion to utilize the maximum capacity of the vessel. The aim is to find a distribution of SiC particles in the radial direction, i.e., (fleft( r right) ), that achieves a uniform index (varphi left( r right) =hbox {const}.) through the wall thickness of the internally pressurized spherical or cylindrical vessel. Both the Mori–Tanaka and rule-of-mixtures homogenization schemes are used to express the effective elastic module and Poisson’s ratio. Moreover, the strength of the composite is expressed based on the rule of mixtures. Besides, finite element simulation is carried out to verify the accuracy of the analytical solution. The effects of input parameters such as the internal pressure, strength of the SiC particles, ratio of in-plane shear stress to effective yield strength, and choice of homogenization scheme on the tailored distribution of the SiC volume fraction in the radial direction are also investigated.