It is necessary to investigate cylinder crush behavior for improvement of fuel cell vehicle crash safety.
However, there have been few crushing behavior investigations of high pressurized cylinders subjected to
external force. We conducted a compression test of pressurized cylinders impacted by external force. We
also investigated the cylinder strength and crushing behavior of the cylinder. The following results were
obtained.
1) The crush force of high pressurized cylinders is different from the direction of external force. The lateral
crush force of high pressurized cylinders is larger than the external axial crush force.
2) Tensile stress occurs in the boundary area between the cylinder dome and central portion when the
pressurized cylinder is subjected to axial compression force, and the cylinder is destroyed.
3) However, the high pressurized cylinders tested had a high crush force, which exceeded the assumed range
of vehicle crash test procedures.