Crashworthiness Performance of Thin-walled Glass/Epoxy Square Tubes with Circular Cutouts: An Experimental Study

• Published in: Fibers and polymers Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 3268 - 3281
• Main Authors: Awd Allah, Mahmoud M., Abd El-baky, Marwa A., Hassan, Mohamad A., Shaker, Ahmed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Fiber Society 01.11.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Axial compression; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Crashworthiness; Design of experiments; Diameters; Energy absorption; Glass fiber reinforced plastics; Impact strength; Optimization; Orthogonal arrays; Parameters; Polymer Sciences; Position measurement; Specific energy; Tubes; Variance analysis; Cutouts; Quasi-static loading; GFRP square tubes; Taguchi; Crashworthiness
• ISSN: 1229-9197; 1875-0052
• DOI: 10.1007/s12221-022-0383-0

This article investigates the crashworthiness performance of thin-walled glass/epoxy (GFRP) square tubes with cutouts. Specimens were fabricated using wet wrapping process and tested under quasi-static axial compression. Four design variables were selected each at three levels to determine the crashworthiness indicators. The design variables are the hole diameter (6, 12, 18 mm), the hole position (measured from the tube top) to tube length ratio (0.25, 0.5, 0.75), the number of holes and distribution (one hole in one face, two holes in two opposite faces, two holes in two adjacent faces), and crosshead speed (2, 5, 10 mm/min). To find the optimal specimens with the best specific energy absorption (SEA) and the highest crushing force efficiency (CFE), the design of experiments (DOE) using Taguchi approach was employed. A series of experiments based on L9 orthogonal array was conducted. The main effect, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) were also performed. The analysis was performed using Minitab 18 Software Package. Results revealed that the hole diameter is the highest influencing parameter on the values of SEA, followed by the crosshead speed with contribution percent of 50.71 and 46.12 %, respectively. The number of holes and distribution is the highest influencing parameter on the values of CFE, followed by crosshead speed, with contribution percent of 40.87 and 32.92 %, respectively. Finally, a confirmation test was performed to verify the optimal test parameters as predicted by Taguchi approach. The optimum SEA and CFE of GFRP tubes with circular cutouts present, respectively, 22.05 and 61.16 % greater than those of intact specimens.