Experimental and numerical study of the energy absorption capacity of pultruded composite tubes

A numerical and experimental investigation was carried out in order to evaluate the response of composite tubes, made of poly-vinylester or polyester matrix reinforced unidirectionally with glass fibers, under quasistatic loading. The influence of triggering in failure and energy absorption was investigated. Also a series of finite element models was created using LS-DYNA3D and compared with experimental results. The correlation between simulations and experiments was relatively satisfactory and from the results of the study the energy absorbing suitability of each tube was evaluated. Results would provide more data that are needed for designing effective energy absorption mechanisms subjected under high speed loads

Flexural impact response of textile reinforced inorganic phosphate cement composites (TRC)

This work presents the characterisation of the local low velocity impact behaviour of a high-performance fibre reinforced cementitious composite (HPFRCC) made of phosphate cement and different types of E-glass textile reinforcements. The so called "energy profiling method" that was used for quantitative characterisation is adopted from Liu et al. (2004) who introduced this methodology on polymer matrix composites (PMC). A series of plates reinforced with chopped strand E-glass fibre mats (fibre volume fraction of 24%) was impacted during drop weight tests, showing that this methodology is as well applicable to textile reinforced cementitious composites. Further, the effects of impactor size and plate thickness were investigated experimentally, and finally the obtained results were compared to literature data for polymer matrix composites. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Experimental and numerical study on axial crushing behaviour of pultruded composite tubes

An extensive experimental investigation was carried out to study the energy absorbing characteristics and progressive deformation behavior of unidirectional pultruded composite tubes subjected to an axial impact load. Pultruded square and circular profiles with glass-polyester and glass-vinylester combinations were used to study the specific energy absorption characteristics. Two types of triggering profiles were incorporated to investigate the effect of triggering on energy absorption. All the above combinations were investigated for three impact velocities. The effects of geometry profile, triggering and strain rate on energy absorption of composite tubes were studied in detail. A numerical simulation using finite element method was carried out to assess the energy absorption capability of composite tubes. To model the delamination between the composite plies, a new approach was adopted using cohesive elements. The progressive failure modes and crushing characteristics of the composite tubes are presented. From these studies, the composite tubes can be considered as energy absorbing members for impact applications