Experimental and Numerical Study on the Axial Crushing Behavior of Textile‐Reinforced Thermoplastic Composite Tubes

Thermoplastic composites with excellent specific mechanical properties are well suited for the development and design of material‐ and energy‐efficient lightweight structures. In this work, the structural response of glass–polypropylene (GF/PP) hybrid yarn‐based composite tubes under quasi‐static and high‐velocity axial crushing has been investigated experimentally and numerically. Very promising crush responses can be identified in terms of peak crushing force, stable progressive crushing, and specific energy absorption. For the numerical simulation on mesoscale, a user‐defined material is used to predict the response of the textile‐reinforced plies. Delamination phenomena are modeled via a cohesive approach. The chamfer trigger is modeled in detail to ensure a stable progressive crushing.