COMPOSITES SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ›› 2025, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (8): 24-32.DOI: 10.19936/j.cnki.2096-8000.20250828.004

• BASIC AND MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE RESEARCH • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Investigation on the energy absorption mechanism and high-efficiency modeling method of carbon fiber reinforced composite structures

WANG Kai1, LUO Junjie2*, YAO Ruyang2, PANG Tong2, JIA Xiaohang2, YU Lei2   

  1. 1. The State Key Laboratory of Heavy-duty and Express High-power Electric Locomotive, Zhuzhou 412001, China;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing Technology for Vehicle, Changsha 410082, China
  • Received:2024-05-13 Online:2025-08-28 Published:2025-09-23

Abstract: Failure mechanisms of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) are complex, and fine-scale simulations are costly with low optimization design efficiency. To improve the simulation and optimization design efficiency of energy-absorbing components of carbon fiber composite materials, CFRP thin-walled square tubes were prepared and axial compressive crushing tests were conducted. A multi-layered and refined finite element model of the axial crushing of CFRP thin-walled square tubes was established, and the experimental and simulated failure modes and energy-absorption mechanisms were analyzed. A high-fidelity and high-efficiency equivalent modeling method was proposed. The experimental results showed that the energy-absorption mechanism of the progressive crushing failure mode of the CFRP thin-walled square tube is complex, mainly including fiber fracture, delamination, and frictional dissipation. The simulation results showed that the refined finite element model can accurately modelling the progressive crushing failure behavior and energy dissipation of the CFRP thin-walled square tube. Plastic deformation and damage are one of the main factors of energy dissipation. Based on the progressive crushing failure mode, the proposed modeling method can accurately predict the energy absorption response of the CFRP thin-walled square tube. The relatively fine modeling method has increased computational efficiency by 97%.

Key words: CFRP, thin-walled tube, energy absorption, progressive crushing, FEM

CLC Number: