The current practice of periodic retesting of composite pressure receptacles primarily based on the hydraulic pressure test has to be evaluated as critical.
This is justified by micro damages caused to the specimen by the test
itself and by a lack of informative values. Thus, BAM Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing uses a new validation approach in the case of retest periods of more than 5 years. It enables the description of the condition of a specific design type series based on destructive tests parallel to operation. With respect to this approach it is explained how the statistical evaluation of sample tests and their extrapolation to end of life or at least to the time of next retesting can be achieved. In addition, it is explained how the reliability limits may be linked to the size and pressure level of the respective composite pressure receptacle. The frame of this safety Approach includes the influence of the maximum working pressure on the safety assessment.
One topic of this approach is the introduction of the working diagram
essential for safety assessments that allows graphical evaluation of load cycle strength by mean value, scatter and survival rate of samples as well as instruction how to use it. For this, it is explained how the number of filling cycles and the reduction of the respective hydraulic residual cycle strength interacts with the newly introduced value of specific filling sensitivity.
Developers interested in high pressure storage of hydrogen for mobile use increasingly rely on composite cylinders for onboard storage or transport of dangerous goods. Thus, composite materials and systems deserve special consideration. History gives interesting background information important to the understanding of the current situation as to regulations, codes and standards.
Based on this review, origins of different regulations for the storage of hydrogen as dangerous good and as propellant for vehicles will be examined. Both categories started out using steel and sometimes aluminium as cylinder material. With composite materials becoming more common, a new problem emerged: vital input for regulations on composite pressure systems was initially derived from decades of experience with steel cylinders. As a result, both regulatory fields suffer somewhat from this common basis. Only recent developments regarding requirements for composite cylinders have begun to go more and more separate ways. Thus these differences lead to some shortcomings in regulation with respect to composite storage systems.
In principle, in spite of separate development, these deficits are in both applications very much the same: there are uncertainties in the prediction of safe service life, in retesting procedures of composite cylinders and in their intervals. Hence, different aspects of uncertainties and relevant approaches to solutions will be explained.