Theoretical–experimental study of the bending behavior of thin-walled rectangular tubes
David Rincón-Dávila, Enrique Alcalá Fazio, Ángel Luis Martín López
Abstract
Plastic hinges are the deformation mechanism of thin-walled tubes under bending loads. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the three ratios between the dimension parameters of the tube’s section: width-to-height, height-to-thickness and width-to-thickness, on this mechanism. Bending tests and a parametric study by numerical simulations are then carried out, using the Digital Image Correlation technique (D.I.C), to validate the F.E.M model. The results show two different deformation mechanisms: higher values of the ratios (thin-walled shapes), lead to plastic hinges as described by Kecman’s model while lower values of the ratios (thick-walled shapes) lead to different plastic hinges. Finally, an index is defined to predict the type of behavior based on the ratios.