Fatigue Resistance of High-Pressure Hydrogen Storage Vessels with Aluminum Liner

Although carbon fiber-reinforced aluminum-lined hydrogen storage vessels (Type III) exhibit outstanding specific strength and specific stiffness, the constraints imposed by their design parameters on fatigue performance and ultimate load-bearing capacity remain incompletely elucidated. We propose a fatigue life prediction method for high-pressure vessels that couples progressive damage in the fiber composite with cumulative damage in the metallic liner, aimed at forecasting the fatigue performance of Type III pressure vessels under cyclic loading. Furthermore, a finite element analysis systematically investigates the influence of key design parameters, for nominal pressure, liner diameter and liner thickness, on fatigue performance and ultimate load-bearing capacity. Results indicate that fatigue life significantly decreases with increasing nominal pressure and liner diameter, with nominal pressure exerting a more pronounced effect. Notably, altering the autoclave pressure alone cannot achieve a synergistic design that balances high load-bearing capacity and high fatigue life when the burst safety factor equals 2.25. More interestingly, we discover that appropriately increasing the pressure vessel's safety factor or liner thickness enables synergistic optimization of the overall structure. These findings provide reliable design approach for the structural design and life assessment of composite hydrogen storage pressure vessels.