Progressive Crush of Resin Transfer Molded Square Tube Stiffened Beam Elements

Abstract

Processes such as Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) present the composites designer with the opportunity to combine tailored architectures with near-net-shape preform elements to fabricate components that not only reduce the number of joining operations through parts integration, but also enable the integration of a number of functions. The combination of structural and energy absorption functions requires the design of components that go beyond simplistic elements such as tubes. In this paper the progressive crush response of multi-celled square tube stiffened beam type elements fabricated using the RTM process is investigated. It is shown that the use of glass-carbon reinforced hybrids can result in very efficient structures capable of achieving high levels of initial peak load, mean crush load and specific energy absorbance with the same architecture. Comparisons are made between a variety of preform lay-up and reinforcement strategies on the basis of load, energy and damage characteristics, and the role of the stiffening flange between the tubes based on the reinforcement therein.