Failure analysis of fiberglass‐vinyl ester composite cylinders subjected to fire and asymmetric transient pressure

Abstract

A hybrid numerical method is developed for failure prediction of glass fiber reinforced vinyl ester (GRV) composite cylinders subjected to fire and asymmetric transient pressure. The method is composed of layerwise theory, differential quadrature method, Fourier series expansion, and Newmark's time integration method. To achieve high-accuracy solution, the char formation, resin decomposition, volatile convection, and temperature-dependent material properties are considered. By comparing the developed results with the experimental and numerical results presented in the available literatures, the precision of this method is confirmed. The results reveal that although the polymeric composites are flammable, they are also strong thermal insulators compared to conventional metals, which reduces the flame spread rate from one section to another.

Fire impact on mechanically failed graphite/epoxy composites

“…Again, the composite residual flexural and compressive strengths decreased rapidly with increasing fire exposure duration, consistent with. [36,37] In addition, Sorathia et al [38] assessed the flexural strength of graphite/epoxy, glass/ vinyl ester, graphite/PEEK, and graphite/phenolic composites after specimens were subjected to cone calorimetry testing. Significant reduction in the residual mechanical properties resulted from the thermal decomposition of the polymer matrices.…”