Crashworthiness of embedded composite structures coupling carbon fiber reinforced plastic tubes and aluminum honeycombs

Abstract

The crashworthiness of embedded composite structures that couple carbon fiber reinforced plastic tubes and aluminum honeycomb (CFRP-AH) was assessed through quasi-static compression tests and finite element simulation. Experimental results show that CFRP tubes tilt, when the AH fits with the CFRP tubes is not tight enough. With an increasing number of embedded CFRP tubes, the CFRP-AH composite structures are found to have a larger mean crush force (MCF) and specific energy absorption (SEA). Among the four experimental groups, CFRP-AH composite structures in Group S3, which used a larger size of CFRP tube, are found to have significantly improved energy-absorbing performance, and SEA of S3-t25 is improved by 576% compared with that of the pure AH S3-t0 without tubes. The S2 group’s CFRP tube is tilted, which used a smaller size, and the structure is improved to obtain the NS2 structure, so that only tearing deformation occurs in the AH-CFRP structure’s CFRP tube. The SEA of NS2-t25 was improved by 29.70% over S2-t25 and 22.83% over S3-t25, which has the best energy absorption characteristics among the filled tube structures.