Effect of Wall Thickness on Stress–Strain Response and Buckling Behavior of Hollow-Cylinder Rubber Fenders

In this study, the effect of wall thickness (15−25 mm) on the stress−strain response of hollow-cylinder rubber fenders were investigated by conducting monotonic compression tests. It was found that a progressive increase in lateral bending deformation was observed during monotonic compression. Simultaneously, the extent of the lateral deflection decreased notably with an increasing wall thickness. From the experimental results, the fact is accepted that buckling occurred in the tested fender due to the fact that the ratio of the height to the wall thickness was higher than four in all of the considered cases. Moreover, an s-shape profile appeared in the stress−strain curves, which became clearer as the wall thickness was reduced from 25 to 15 mm. To assess the performance of fenders objectively, an energy-effectiveness index, C E R , was introduced to quantify the energy absorption capacity of the fender. From the experimental observations, it was inferred that the contact area of the folded inner surface of the fender produced under compression generated an additional reaction force and affected the shape of the stress−strain curve since the measured load consisted of two reaction forces: one caused by the self-contact area, and the other resulted from the compression-bending deformation that occurred in the side wall of the fender. To examine this assertion, a finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted and confirmed the effect of the reaction force on the sensitivity of the s-shape characteristic of the stress−strain curve. Finally, a polynomial regression was conducted and the calculated results based on the fourth-degree stress polynomial function correlated very well with the measured stress−strain curves.