Lateral Loading and Energy Absorption of Foam Filled Jute-Glass/Epoxy Bi-Tubes

Abstract

Experimental work has been carried out on the crushing behaviour of jute, glass, and hybrid jute-glass/epoxy foam filled bi-tubes under lateral loading. Inner and outer tubes diameters of 50 mm and 100 mm respectively were fabricated by hand lay-up method. Tube length of 150 mm is maintained for all the fabricated specimens. Polyurethane foam filler was used to fill the gap between the inner and outer tubes. Lateral loading was applied on the foam filled bi-tubes as well as the inner and outer tubes individually. Lateral load-displacement relations were drawn and the energy absorption was calculated. Effect of material used and foam filler on the load-displacement relations, maximum and mean loads, and failure mode was investigated. Crush force efficiency and stroke efficiency were determined and discussed. Results show that the glass/ epoxy foam filled bi-tubes supported load higher 22.45%, 28.94% and 36.80% than the glass-jute, jute-glass and jute/ epoxy bi-tubes respectively. It has been found that the glass/epoxy foam filled bi-tubes supported load higher 18.08% than that obtained from the combination of the maximum loads of the inner and outer empty tubes. The performance of the foam filled bi-tubes under lateral loading is improved by using the polyurethane foam filler and influenced by the stacking sequence of the material used. The specific energy absorption of the foam filled glass/ epoxy bi-tubes is found higher 5.47%, 12.86 % and 20.68% than the glass-jute, jute-glass and jute/ epoxy foam filled bi-tubes. Failure mechanism of the fractured specimens was discussed.