Abstract
Fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) composite materials are currently employed increasingly widely in vehicle body parts to reduce the weight and improve the fuel efficiency because these materials are lightweight and exhibit high stiffness. Another particularly interesting function of the materials is the continuous and stable fracture phenomenon known as the 'progressive crushing mode' that occurs when an FRP tube with a trigger part is crushed in the axial direction. This phenomenon makes the FRP tube more effective to absorb crush energy than a conventional metal. Moreover, this benefit is considered for use in crush boxes of vehicles. In our previous studies, we conducted experimental analysis of the fracture mechanism at the initial stage of the FRP tube and made a test report publicly available. In this paper, we propose a finite-element model that is reasonably simple and accurate enough to simulate the initial fracture found experimentally.
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