New design concept of a tank made of plastic material for firefighting vehicle

Abstract

Optimisation work has been increasingly directed at commercial vehicles to reduce their weight and thus enhance their performance. This optimisation, which responds to the requirements of various European standards with regard to the reduction of fuel
consumption, also involves the elements mounted on these vehicles. This work discusses the development and design of a firefighting vehicle tank made from plastic material instead of the usual structure or stainless steel, essentially to reduce the weight of the
structure. The design and construction feasibility of the components have been developed based on the specifications required. These specifications concern the tank capacity to resist at different load conditions and avoid any external vibrations. To ensure this, the
tank consists of a number of internal welded plates in order to reduce the sloshing effect and secondly makes it modular and thus highly adaptable to the customer’s needs. Specific method on the production of the component is also provided. Therefore,
numerical tests were conducted with linear elastic stress analysis with square brick elements. The boundary conditions applied to the numerical model provide a complete support to the panels and are determined by the load condition of fluid used. This preliminary analysis was conducted to define the thickness of the tank panels and revealed that the use of a plastic tank leads to a weight reduction of about 35% and generates cost savings of about 25-30% compared to the steel equivalent. Therefore, the use of plastic
materials compared to the classic materials seems to be very positive and this is critical information to support the final decision in a regulated sector, where the firefighting vehicles are.