Date of Award

2014

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.Sc.

Department

Mechanical, Automotive, and Materials Engineering

Keywords

Applied sciences, Axial tensile, Deformation mechanisms, Energy absorption, Finite element analysis, Foam filled braided tubes, Transverse loading

Supervisor

Altenhof, William

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

The mechanical response of an energy absorbing device was studied experimentally by means of a custom built testing machine. Results showed that the force/displacement behavior was strongly dependent upon foam density; however after tow lockup this dependency was reduced. Axially loaded specimens utilizing circular cores reduced the total elongation to failure and maximum load by approximately 120 mm and 7 kN, respectively compared to specimens utilizing rectangular cores. Good agreement and deviation between theoretical results and experimental tests for specimens with low and high density cores were observed with an error of 3.03% and 16.45%, respectively. Significant tensile loads and to a lesser extent bending within the braided tube occurred during transverse loading. Specimens containing circular foam cores were found to be more efficient in SEA, approximately 2 kJ/kg greater than rectangular cores. A 22% reduction in FE was determined for specimens containing rectangular cores compared to circular cores.

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