Impact loading behavior of woven glass fabric polymer composite bi-tubular square sections

Abstract Glass fabric epoxy polymer composites are recognized as one of the efficient material for energy absorbing components, owing to their extremely dissipative crushing mechanisms involved during collisions. As a result, in addition to their light weight characteristics combined with attractive mechanical properties, they are employed in various domains such as automobile, railway, aerospace and marine industries etc. The present research paper aims to present the axial crashworthiness performance of thin-walled bi-tubular composite structures under impact load. The successfully manufactured composite bi-tubular components were imposed to axial impact loading with varied impact velocity of 8 m/s and 10 m/s. The SEA of eight layered glass fabric epoxy polymer composite square tubes are 5–35% significantly higher than the four layered glass fabric composite square tubes and can be used as a good alternative to the conventional single square tubes.