THE DEFORMATION MECHANISM OF THIN-WALLED NONCIRCULAR COMPOSITE TUBES SUBJECTED TO BENDING

The present work is dealing with the experimental investigation of the bending of thin-walled composite tubes of non-circular cross-section, designed for the construction of various parts of the car body. Simul taneously much effort is given to explore the fracture mechanism gover ning the phenomenon examining as well as the influence of many of the factors associated with the energy absorbing efficiency and crashworth iness characteristics of the structures tested. Moreover, a theoretica l analysis for the prediction of the ultimate bending strength for tub es of various composite materials and cross-sections subjected to bend ing, is presented. Theoretical results are compared with experimental measurements and are found to be in good agreement.