Energy Absorption Behavior of Double-Chamfer Triggered Glass/Epoxy Circular Tubes

Abstract

The effects of double-chamfer triggered pattern to the axial crushing energy absorption behavior of glass/epoxy circular tubes with the ply pattern of [±θ]_n is reported. Deliberate weakness of 45 chamfered triggers at both ends of the tube is introduced with the aim of controlling the crushing performance. Similar to single-chamfer triggered pattern, application of this trigger pattern is an efficient way to weaken the initial peak load P _cr, extend the triggering length L _tr, reduce the probability of catastrophic failure and avoid unstable crushing. The crushing behaviors, the damage characteristics of untriggered, single-chamfer triggered and double-chamfer triggered tubes were studied in detail. Specific crushing stress was used to measure the energy absorption for tubes of different winding angles. Investigations on the macroscopic collapse mode of the tube, the effects of ply angle, the effect of impact loading and quasi-static loading were performed in the presence of double-chamfer triggers.