Design and simulation studies on the development of a high pressure cell upto 1.0 GPa for industrial and scientific metrological application

The accurate, precise and traceable measurements are always considered the prime issues in any metrological and scientific applications. Another important issue is the safety and handling of the parts, components, equipments and devices, especially in high pressure metrology. If design parameters of the high pressure instruments are not optimized, tested and maintained properly, sometimes it can be very dangerous and lead to fatal accidents. Therefore, a thorough design analysis is essentially required to avoid such accidents.

In the present paper, authors describe the results obtained on the design and simulation studies carried out on a pressure cell under high pressure conditions upto 1.0 GPa. A mathematical model based on elasto-plastic material behavior with nonlinear strain-hardening was adopted and used for determining the maximum bearing pressure. The optimization of the design parameter such as thickness of pressure cell is performed and validated using finite element analysis (FEA). The thickness of pressure cell is considered 5.5 mm and the stress values have been compared with and without autofrettage process. A significant improvement in the stresses due to the autofrettage in the cylinder is observed. The findings revealed that with the applied load of 1 GPa, maximum stress generated is 1908.2 MPa, 1045.5 MPa for without consideration of autofrettage and with consideration of autofrettage respectively. The strain distribution is evaluated to know the behavior of the strain pattern over the periphery of the pressure cell. The pressure cell thus designed and optimized is very useful and would find applications in pressure measurements by measuring the strain across the periphery as a function of applied pressure. Further work on the experimental testing and development as a pressure sensor is undergoing and would be reported in due course.