Crashworthiness behavior of fiberglass tube subjected to axial load

This research is purposed to study crashworthiness behavior of fiberglass tube subjected axial compression. The specimens are made of fiberglass and hand lay-up in different ply angles which are; specimen A ply angle is [(0/90)/(0/90)/(0/90)] specimen B ply angle is [(45/-45)/(45/-45)/(45/-45)] and specimen C ply angle is [(45/-45)/(0/90)/(45/-45)]. The tube has 50 mm outside diameter, 2 mm wall thickness and 100 mm length. Quasi-static test is done by ESH Universal Testing Machine with 10 mm/min of crushing speed. Impact test is done by Vertical Impact Testing Machine with the impact speed of 7 m/s. The result showed that specimen A gives highest specific energy absorption due to the vertical fiber orientation. In addition, the collapse mode and response of specimens to impact are also discussed in the paper