Collapse of composite-repaired cylinders with internal metal loss subjected to external hydrostatic pressure

The present study investigates the collapse performance of composite-repaired cylinders with internal metal loss subjected to external pressure. Three groups of intact, thinned, and repaired cylinders were designed, analytically verified, fabricated, geometrically measured, externally tested, and numerically modeled. Each group had three nominally identical cylinders to ensure the repeatability of experiments. The cylinders had the same end closure, effective length, total length, external radius, and intact thickness for an equivalent comparison. The thinned cylinder was considered as the intact cylinder with internal metal loss, whereas the repaired cylinder was considered as the thinned cylinder with composite reinforcement. The results indicated that the external loading capacity of cylinders with internal metal loss could be fully restored and even enhanced by composite reinforcement. Composite-repaired cylinders are much less sensitive to initial geometrical imperfections than intact cylinders.