Quasi-static Axial Compression of thin-walled Circular Composite Tubes

Assessing the behavior of composite structures which are subjected to impact loads is one of the important subjects in the field of mechanical sciences. Using thin-walled tubes which collapsed and absorbed the impact energy is a well-known method to prevent damages to the other parts of the structures. In this paper, deformations, crushing length, peak load, mean force and energy absorption capacity of thin-walled circular composite tubes are investigated both experimentally and numerically. In order to experimental study, three circular composite tubes were fabricated and subjected to quasi-static axial load. Also, a finite element model was constructed and analyzed under same conditions using FEM27 and LS-DYNA software packages. The results of simulations are in good agreement with the experimental data and show that the section geometry has considerable effect on the energy absorption. The circular composite tube has the most energy absorption capacity and the most average force among all investigated sections.