Drop weight impact analysis of GFRP tubes with hollow glass particle-filled matrix

Abstract

Protecting occupants or payloads in crashes and blasts is of utmost importance in both moving and immobile structures. One way of achieving this is by using a sacrificial energy absorber. Composite tubes have been studied as potential energy absorbers due to their ability to fail progressively under axial compression. In this study, the energy absorption capability of these tubes is enhanced by adding hollow glass particles to the matrix. Drop-weight tests are performed on composite tubes, and a digital image correlation (DIC)-based technique is used to capture their load-displacement behaviour. This eliminates the use of electronic data acquisition systems, load cells, and accelerometers. The load-displacement curves of the tubes are obtained from the DIC-based technique and examined to understand their crushing behaviour. Although the mean crush load shows a drop, an increase in crush length is noticed. The specific energy absorbed by the tubes improves with an increase in GMB volume fraction. The addition of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 vol fractions of GMB results in the specific energy absorption increasing by 6.6%, 14.7%, 24% and 36.6%, respectively, compared to neat glass fibre-epoxy tubes. Visual examination of the tubes and comparison with tubes subject to quasi-static compression is also performed.