AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION INTO CRUSHING BEHAVIOR OF RADIAL

CORRUGATED COMPOSITE TUBE

Elfetori F. Abdewi, Shamsuddeen Suliman, A.M.S. Hamouda, E. Mahdi

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra
Malaysia, UPM, Serdang, Selangor, 43400, Malaysia
hamouda@eng.upm.edu.my, Tel: (603) 89466330 and Fax (603) 86567122

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of corrugation geometry on the crushing behavior, energy absorption, failure
mechanism, and failure mode of woven roving glass fibre/ epoxy laminated composite tube. Experimental
investigations were carried out on three geometrical different types of composite tubes subjected to
compressive loading. On the addition to a radial corrugated composite tube, cylindrical composite tube, and
corrugated surrounded by cylindrical tube were fabricated and tested under the same condition in order to
know the effect of corrugation geometry. The results showed that, CCT and RCCT specimens crush with
progressive folding forming continuous fronds, which spread radial outwards and inwards in the form of a
mushrooming failure. However, RCSCT specimen crushes in interaction between upper and lower side of
specimen. It exhibits lower total energy absorption than other two types. Corrugation geometry shows more
stability under axial compression load than cylindrical tube. The results also show that, radial corrugated
composite tube has more specific energy absorption than cylindrical composite tube.

Keywords: Corrugated composite tubes; Energy absorption capability; Axial compression crushing

1. Introduction

The design of air, sea, and ground vehicles is increasingly driven by minimum weight
considerations and by concerns for passenger safety. Composite structures are light, can
be tailored in composition and shape, and can provide high crashworthiness when used as
part of an energy-dissipating device [1].

As a part of engineering applications, composite tubes replacing metal products on many

applications. High attention was given to produce composite tubes and testing it. They
utilize these researches in composite crushing behavior and energy absorption. There is a
considerable amount of published data on the response of composite tubes to axial
crushing [2-5]. Many of these studies utilize circular cross-section tubular specimens to
determine the energy absorption capability of the material. This paper focuses in studying
the effect of corrugation across a cylindrical composite tube mentioned as Radial
Corrugated Composite Tube RCCT on energy absorption capacity, failure mechanism,
and failure mode of woven roving glass fibre/epoxy laminated composite tube. Circular
Composite Tube CCT have been also fabricated and tested under the same conditions in
order to maintain an effective comparison between different geometries. Radial
Corrugated Surrounded by Circular composite Tube RCSCT have been fabricated and
tested. RCSCT, which is a combination of CCT and RCCT specimens, contributes the
research regarding the effect of the geometry on the energy absorption capability of
composite material structures.
2. Experimental setup

2.1. Geometry and material

Three types of specimens have been investigated, Circular Composite Tube CCT, Radial
Corrugated Composite Tube RCCT, and Radial Corrugated Surrounded by Circular
Tube RCSCT. The three structures are made of woven roving glass fibre/epoxy 600
g/sqm. All specimens fabricated under the same conditions with a fixed number of layers
equal to six. The height (h) for both structures is same, while the diameter (d) of CCT
structure is equal to mean diameter of RCCT structure (dm), where dm is the average of
(dup) and (dlw), however, RCSCT is a combination of RCCT covered by CCT. Details on
specimens’ geometry are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Description of woven roving composite tubes specimens

Type of No. Wall Height Upper Lower Mean Cylinder No.

tube of thickness diameter diameter diameter diameter of
layers tested
n t h dup dlw dm d spcs.
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
CCT 6 3.7 150 - - - 160 5

RCCT 6 3.5 150 182 138 160 - 5

RCSCT 6 4 150 189 138 - 189 3

2.2. Fabrication process

The principle of wet winding process was used for the fabrication of all types of
specimens. However, there is a difference in the details of fabrication process for each
type due to the difference of the final shape need to be produced. A hand-lay-up process
was used for the fabrication process. The tube was fabricated by rolling the woven roving
fibreglass onto a rotating mandrel of suitable circular section. The woven roving fibre is
passed through a resin bath, causing resin impregnation.

2.3. Test procedure

Test was carried out under the same condition for all types of specimens. Static uniaxial
compression load was applied using an Instron 8500 digital-testing machine with full
scale load range of 250 KN. Load platens were set parallel to each other prior to the
initiation of the test. From three to five replicate tests were conducted for each specimen.
The tests were carried out at a speed of 15 mm/min. Load and displacement were
recorded by an automatic data acquisition system.
3. Results and discussion

3.1. Failure modes

As shown in Fig. 1, CCT tubes were crushed progressively from one end by splaying
mode. In each crush test the axial load increased initially and micro-fragmentation was
observed. As the load picked up, the tube wall expanded outward. With the platen
moving downward the longitudinal cracks advanced by splitting the tube wall in to many
segments. These segments were forced by the axial load to bend outwards in the shape of
fronds. However, RCCT has a similar folding failure mode as that of the CCT. As shown
in Fig. 2, the load first attains a high value then it drops to a lower level in first and
second stages. However, after a small displacement, a steady fluctuating load was
established. Subsequently, at the last stage load rise up rabidly due to end of crushing
zone. RCCT exhibit high load carrying capacity with obviously high buckling resistance
and minimum fluctuating load along RCCT crushing length was observed. RCSCT
specimens exhibit more rigidity under the axial compression force. It is fractured in a
form of interaction between the upper and lower parts of the specimen. These fractures
propagated along the specimen forming complete crush of the specimen (see Fig. 3).
Since RCSCT is a combination of CCT and RCCT with three layers each, it exhibits
lower total energy absorption.

3.2 Crush Force Efficiency (CFE)

CFE is the ratio between average crush load and initial crush failure load. It is useful to
measure the performance of an absorber. It can be calculated as

P
CFE =
P max

Where Pmax and P are the maximum initial and the average crushing load, respectively.
As far as the initial peak value of the load coincides with the highest peak force value, the
desired value of the CFE parameter is equal to 1, which is difficult to achieve in practice,
but an ideal absorber is said to exhibit a crush force efficiency of 100%. The results of
crush force efficiency and other parameters were listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Crashworthiness parameters of cylindrical and radial corrugated composite tubes

Specimen Pmax P Es CFE SE

type
(KN) (KN) (KJ/Kg) (%) (%)
CCT 56.622 49.943 10.2 88.2 65.85

RCCT 75.315 68.088 12.2 90.4 72.00

SRCCT 35.996 22.258 3.57 61.84 76.67

 150

125

100

Load (KN) 75

50

25

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Displacement (mm)

Figure 1. Load-displacement curves and deformation history of CCT specimens

150

125

100
Load (KN)

75

50

25

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Displacement (mm)

Figure 2. Load-displacement curves and deformation history of RCCT specimens

150

125

100
Load (KN)

75

50

25

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Displacement (mm)

Figure 3. Load-displacement curves and deformation history of RCSCT specimens

3.3. Stroke Efficiency (SE)

Crushing of a tube will lead to compaction of the tube. This results in a continuously
increasing load level as the deformation increases. The relative deformation of the
absorber, at which compaction takes place, is referred to as the stroke efficiency (SE) of
the absorber. The SE can be obtained as

u
SE =
h

Where u and h represent the crush length and length of the tube, respectively.

3.4. Specific energy absorption (Es)

To compare different materials, it is necessary to consider the specific energy, which is

defined as the amount of energy absorbed per unit mass crushed material. Therefore, the
specific energy (Es) that is dependent on the structure geometry was used for comparing
the energy absorption of all three specimens. Figure 4 shows the load displacement curve
of CCT, RCCT and RCSCT. Specific energy absorption (Es) can be calculated as

P
Es =
Aρ

Where P is the average crush load, A is cross-sectional area of the tube, and ρ is the
density of the composite tube. High values of Es indicate the lightweight absorber.

150

125

100
Load (KN)

CCT
75
RCCT
50 RCSCT

25

0
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
Displacement (mm)

Figure 4. Load-displacement curve of CCT, RCCT and RCSCT

4. Conclusion

1- The quasi-static crushing behaviour of woven roving composite tubes is affected

by the structural geometry.

2- Radial corrugation geometry has a high positive effect in elimination of sliding of

the structure.

3- Radial corrugation composite tube exhibited better energy absorption capability

than cylindrical composite tube.

4- RCCT and CCT exhibited high value of crash force efficiency.

5- RCSCT crushed at lower load than other two types of tested composite tubes. It
also exhibits lower values of tested parameters except specific energy as recorded
above.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Universiti Putra Malaysia and staff for the financial
support for this research.

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