Numerical crushing analysis on energy absorption capability of a tapered corrugated composite tube under axial and oblique impact loading
Mehdi Pourseifi, Farid Bagherpoor
Abstract
Compared with metals, composites have unique advantages, such as lightweight, high specific strength and suitable stiffness, high energy absorption, and ease of design,making them worthy of special consideration. Corrugating the surface of energy absorbers makes it possible to control and optimize the crashworthy properties of the composite structure. In this study, the effect of corrugation geometric parameters on the tube surface of the glass-epoxy, under oblique and axial impact, was numerically investigated using the ABAQUS software by considering cohesive layers. There was an excellent agreement between the simulation results and the validated experimental ones. The effect of amplitude and wavelength of the corrugated wall of the composite tapered tube, the angles of the cone tip and oblique impact, the orientation of the composite fibers, and composite layer on the absorption energy, the peak force, and crushing force efficiency related to the composite tube were examined. The results indicated that the energy absorption capacity of the tapered composite tube reduces by decreasing the angles of the cone tip and increasing oblique impact. Moreover, one can control the crashworthy properties of the composite tube by modifying the amplitude and wavelength of the corrugated surface, and the angles of fiber and layering.