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It is advised to add cuts as circular holes to constructions’ walls for technical requirements such as the assembly and to reduce the weight. Since these induced cutouts have a substantial influence on crashworthiness and failure mechanisms, the size, location, and number of these cutouts should be carefully selected for energy absorption components. This research concentrates on the optimization of process parameters for the crushing performance of perforated thin-walled glass/epoxy (GFRP) square tubes. Taguchi model was adapted to formulate the design of the experiment while desirability function analysis (DFA) was used for process parameters optimization in terms of crashworthiness indicators. Test specimens were fabricated via wet warping by hand lay-up technique and tested under quasi-static axial crushing. Finally, the specimen yielding the optimum process parameter combination was compared with the intact sample. GFRP samples with circular holes exhibit optimum initial peak force ([Formula: see text]) and total absorbed energy [Formula: see text] with values of 38.35 and 4.47 % which are smaller than those of the intact samples. On contrary, the optimum specific absorbed energy [Formula: see text] and crush force efficiency ([Formula: see text]) present, respectively, 31.08 and 80.28 % greater than those of intact one. The considered process parameters were noticed to be of substantial influences on the crush behavior of perforated GFRP tubes exposed to axial compression.

The utilization of lightweight construction is one of the keys to increase the fuel efficiency and reduce the environmental effect of automobiles. Natural fiber composites are replacing expensive synthetic fibers increasingly commonly in the automotive sector. To further lower the weight and price of the vehicle without losing rigidity and strength, basalt (B) fiber could be incorporated into jute (J) fiber composites. For the generation of hybrid composite laminates, woven textiles made of J-fiber and B-fiber were combined with an epoxy matrix. The primary mechanical features of the J-B/epoxy composite laminates, including tensile, bending, shear, and bearing characteristics, were investigated. Hand lay-up approach was used to prepare the hybrid composite laminates. The impact of the number of J-plies relative to the number of B-plies on the mechanical properties was explored. The findings proved that the basalt/epoxy composite has the maximum ultimate tensile strength, young’s modulus, toughness modulus, bending strength, bending modulus, in-plane shear strength, and bearing strength. Whereas the J/epoxy composite showed the maximum failure strain and bending strain. Hybridizing J-fiber with B-fiber improved the tensile, bending, in-plane shear, and bearing characteristics of the prepared composite. The maximum specific tensile, bending, in-plane shear, and bearing strengths are displayed by 3B-2 J-3B, followed by 2B-4 J-2B.

As a class of promising cost-effective lightweight structures, metal-composite hybrids have rapidly emerged in automotive industry largely attributable to their outstanding multifunctional and crashworthy characteristics. The aim of this study is to investigate the potentiality of metal-composite cylinders for crash energy absorption applications. In this context, the crashworthiness performance, and the deformation history of jute (J)/glass (G) reinforced epoxy hybrid composite over wrapped aluminum (Al) cylinders were experimentally studied under quasi-static axial loading. Crashworthiness characteristics of the proposed cylinders were evaluated by measuring the average and peak crushing loads ($${\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{avg}}$$ F avg , $${\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{ip}}$$ F ip ), specific energy absorption ($$\mathrm{SEA}$$ SEA ), total absorbed energy ($$\mathrm{U})$$ U ) , and crush force efficiency ($$\mathrm{CFE}$$ CFE ). The influence of the number of J-layers on the deformation profiles has also been defined. Result revealed that the highest ($${\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{ip}}$$ F ip ), ($${\mathrm{F}}_{\mathrm{avg}})$$ F avg ) , and ($$\mathrm{SEA}$$ SEA ) noted for Al-3G-2 J-3G with values of 85.45 kN, 53.14 kN, and 39.99 J/g, respectively. The maximum ($$\mathrm{U}$$ U ) was documented for Al-8G with a value of 3535.89 J. The highest $$(\mathrm{CFE})$$ ( CFE ) was recorded for Al-2G-4 J-2G followed by Al-3G-2 J-3G with a value of 0.65 and 0.62, respectively. Al-3G-2 J-3G cylinders exhibit excellent energy-absorbing capacity and could be applied as energy-absorbing crashworthiness structures in automotive applications.

This paper investigates the crashworthiness performance of square pipes with induced holes. Glass reinforced epoxy (GFRP) specimens were fabricated and tested under quasi-static axial crashing. Four design parameters were chosen, each at three levels, to calculate crashworthiness indicators. The design parameters are the hole diameter (d), the hole position to specimen length ratio (P/L), the number of holes and distribution (n), and crosshead speed (V). Taguchi technique has been adapted to get the optimum crashworthiness parameters. Experiments based on Taguchi’s orthogonal array with 9 experimental runs (L9) were performed. Optimal conditions with the maximum absorbed energy (U) and minimum initial peak force ([Formula: see text]) were determined. The main effects, signal to noise ratio (S/N), and analysis of variance (ANOVA) have been investigated. Results indicated that “V” followed by “d” are the highest influencing parameters on the values of “U” with a contribution of 49% and 43%, respectively. The dominant influencing parameter on the values of [Formula: see text] is “n” with a contribution of 94%. Finally, confirmation tests were carried out to validate the estimated model with respect to experimental results. The optimum U and [Formula: see text] of GFRP square pipes with circular cutouts were compared with those of non-porous specimens.