Stresses Induced in Fiber-Reinforced Tubes Due to Changes in Temperature and Moisture

An orthotropic hygrothermal stress solution has been formulated for an infinitely long fiber-reinforced tube of any number of plies of any material, with arbitrary orientation of each of the plies. The solution allows the determination of stresses when the tube is subjected to changes in temperature and moisture content. In the formulation, a temperature gradient through the thickness has been taken into account such that the formulation can be applied when the temperature inside the tube is not the same as that outside. This set of equations, together with the prescribed boundary conditions, has been solved numerically. It is shown that the stresses induced due to moisture absorbed from the environment are significant.