Numerical study on crushing damage and energy absorption of multi-cell glass fibre-reinforced composite panel: Application to the crash absorber design of tsunami lifeboat

Abstract During an evacuation, the tsunami lifeboat should be able to withstand the possible external loads that might be occurred, such as collisions, violent crashes, and capsizing events. Special structural reinforcement and improvement, such as a crash absorber, are attached to prevent damage due to the impact load. Therefore, this article focuses on the crushing behaviour of the tsunami lifeboat crash absorber made of the multi-cell glass fibre-reinforced composite panel. The effect of the cross-section geometry design of the cell on the damage mechanism and energy absorption behaviour was investigated. The explicit dynamic finite element method was used to identify the multi-cell configuration’s crashworthiness performance. Experimental studies such as tensile and three-point bending tests were conducted to define the material properties and validation of the FE model. The simulation results showed that the explicit dynamic finite element method has effectively estimated the crash absorber crushing damage. The circular cross-section has shown the most significant crash absorption capability compared to the others, namely the honeycomb, the square, and the triangular cell. Furthermore, the 4CSM laminate type has revealed a lower energy absorption than the 4WRC45 and 4WRC laminates. Otherwise, the study exhibits that the cross-sectional geometry and the laminate type significantly influence the crash absorber performance for improving the tsunami lifeboat crashworthiness.