Experimental Investigation and Finite Element Analysis of Filament Wound GRP pipes for Underground Applications

The filament winding process involving the manufacturing of composite pipes has better mechanical properties. However a number of influencing parameters may affect its mechanical behavior, which arises mainly due to its inherent property of anisotropy. In order to overcome this, many researches are progressing to optimize the process. In this paper an experimental investigation considering four process parameters and their subsequent study on the effects of the mechanical properties of filament wound Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) pipes was conducted. Nine 500mm pipes were manufactured based on Taguchi's Design of Experiments (DOE) Model and studied for optimization of axial tensile strength, hoop tensile strength and pipe stiffness using Taguchi's Robust Design. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) method was also used to statistically determine the weight of each process variable on the particular response and a finite element analysis was performed using multi-layer elements for the optimized conditions to have a more realistic view of how the pipe would behave in the operational scenario. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.