Investigations on crush behavior and energy absorption characteristics of GFRP composite conical frusta with a cutout under axial compression loading
M. Kathiresan, K. Manisekar, R. Vasudevan, Mehmet Ali Güler
Abstract
The changes in energy-absorption and deformation characteristics of thin-walled E-glass fiber reinforced composite conical frusta upon introduction cutouts were studied through quasi-static axial compression loading. The 15°, 18° and 21° semi-apical angled conical frusta with a circular, square, and elliptical cutout were axially compressed, and its crush-force-efficiency, energy-absorption, and specific-energy-absorption (SEA) characteristics were analyzed. Further, the ABAQUS® finite element software was used to simulate the crush behavior of perfect and imperfect conical frusta, and the corresponding results were compared with the experimental results, and the results are reported in this article.