Stress and Damage Analysis of Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites for Groundwater Riser Pipe Applications Using Numerical Methods
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Date
2025-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Composite materials are increasingly being used in the application of pipes due to their desirable properties such as high strength-to-weight ratios, corrosion resistance, and increased durability. With the increasing demand in engineering for corrosion-proof and long-lasting material, traditional materials such as cast-iron and PVC are constrained by their durability and reliability. Composite materials such as glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) possess desirable properties that have the potential to overcome such constraints. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the stress, deformation, and damage of composite materials for use in groundwater piping systems. Through this research, it is intended to investigate the damage behavior of a composite pipe subjected to axial loading and internal pressure, which are usual service loads for underground piping systems. To this end, the study utilized finite element analysis (FEA) on Abacus CAE to simulate the behavior of composite materials under various loads and environmental stresses. By modeling different material configurations and their interactions with groundwater, the analysis identified the optimal composite solutions that exhibit both strength and durability. The simulation result indicated a maximum von Mises stress of 33.2 MPa, maximum principal strain of 0.00111 and maximum deformation of 0.3mm under the standard loading condition for dry case and after consideration of moisture absorption, von Mises stress become 39.39 MPa, maximum principal strain raised to 0.00213. In addition, for critical load case von mises stress of 301MPa and principal strain of 0.0094 is recorded for dry condition and von mises stress of 331.2MPa and strain of 0.017 after moisture consideration. Furthermore, Hashin failure index for both fiber and matrix remained well below one for both loading case throughout the structure, confirming no critical damage initiation in any ply for the applied loads for dry case. For the critical loading with moisture, hashin matrix failure index of 2.76 is recorded indicating matrix failure under critical loading condition with moisture.
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Keywords
Composite materials, GFRP, groundwater piping, Abaqus CAE, Von Mises stress, Moisture absorption, Hashin failure criteria