A review on impact characteristics and energy absorption of fibre metal laminate tubes

Laminated metal and composite shells are increasingly being used in various engineering applications including automotive, mechanical, and marine engineering. With the sensitivity to structural impact characteristics and energy absorption increased, research covering the crushing response of fibre metal laminates has received considerable attention. For better crashworthiness performance, vehicles must protect its occupants by maintaining structural integrity and converting the large amount of kinetic energy into other forms of energy in a controllable and predictable manner in a crash situation. In doing so, lower crushing force would provide better safety for the vehicle occupants. This paper reviews the response of fibre metal laminate tubular sections subjected to axial impact loads relevant to the field of structural crashworthiness. The various types of tube material and design shall reduce the maximum crush force, hence improving the energy-absorbing characteristics of tubular structures