Energy Absorbed by Composite Conical Structures in Axial Crushing. Issue 1 (January 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Boria, Simonetta; Pettinari, Silvia
• Is Part Of: Advanced composites letters. Volume 23:Issue 1(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-01
• Subjects: Theoretical Analysis -- Crashworthy Problems -- Energetic Approach -- Composite Materials; Composite materials -- Periodicals; 620.118
• DOI: 10.1177/096369351402300102
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-6935

Abstract

Recently crashworthiness trend is the use of thin-walled composite impact attenuators in specific vehicle zones, ensuring kinetic energy absorption. The present paper addresses the composite conical structures design using an analytical approach for predicting energy dissipation in a controlled way. A balance of internal energies involved in the absorption and external force yields the average crush load and the total displacement through a numerical method. Comparison between theory and experiments shows the efficiency of the proposed relatively simple model for predicting energy absorption of axially collapsing composite shells.