Energy Absorption of Thin-Walled Composite Tubes Subjected under Quasi-static Compression

Abstract

Crushing energy has to sufficiently be absorbed in order to save the protections of passengers in a car accident. There have been a set of studies on the crushing energy absorption of a fundamental construction in automobiles. In this paper, the purpose concerns the crashworthiness of the widely used vehicle structure, triangular thin-walled tubes with ±45o and 0/90o fiber orientation. An experimental investigation was carried out to study the energy absorption characteristics of thin-walled triangular tubes subjected to quasi-static axial loading to develop the optimum structural members. Notch shapes and structure modification applied to structural design have nowadays been used to keep up the efficiency of energy absorption. Such ideas may result in the reduction of structural stiffness and buckling or collapse can easily be done in impact. Four different numbers of layers (4, 6, 8 and 10) by using woven roving glass fiber/ epoxy E-600 with two fiber orientation ±45o and 0/90o