Energy absorption capabilities of woven roving glass/epoxy composite tubes: Effect of tube length

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Elgalai, A.M. | Hamouda, A.M.S. | Mahdi, E. | Sahari, B.S.

Affiliations: Institute of Advanced Technology (ITMA), University of Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangore, Malaysia

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel.: +603 8946 6330; Fax: +603 8656 6061; E-mail: hamouda@eng.upm.edu.my.

Abstract: This work presents a comprehensive experimental work on woven roving glass/epoxy composite tubes subjected to axial quasi-static compression loading condition in order to study the effect of the tube length on crushing behaviour, failure modes, and on energy absorption capabilities. For this purpose, composite tubes of different lengths; L1, L2, L3, and L4 (111, 174, 237, and 300 mm, respectively) were fabricated and tested. The main objectives of this work are to study the behaviour of the load-displacement curve and to investigate the effect of the change in tube length on the energy absorption capability of cylindrical tubes. It has been found that crushing behaviour and energy absorption capabilities are sensitive to the change in the tube length. Also it is found that the tested specimens exhibited different failure modes, which characterized each tube.

Keywords: Composite tubes, energy absorption, woven roving glass/epoxy, axial compression load, and failure modes

Journal: Strength, Fracture and Complexity, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 15-24, 2005