Dynamic and static deformation of circular tubes accompanied by fracture in lateral compression

In the present study, a series of dynamic and quasi-static lateral compression tests for three aluminum alloys, 2014-Tl, 2017-T4 and 7001-T6, were carried out to examine the effects of loading rate and the wall thickness of tubes on the deformation of circular tubes and on the location of fracture. A finite-element analysis was also performed to find the relationship between magnitude of stress and occurrence of fracture during deformation. In this FEM analysis, a modified deformation model was introduced to continue the calculation after partial fracture occurred in tubes. The load-deflection curves of circular tubes obtained from the FEM analysis showed good agreement with those obtained from the experiments. The deflection at which fracture occurred could be predicted well by the FEM analysis. Absorbed energy per unit volume of specimens tested at dynamic and static rates was increased with the increase of the wall thickness of tubes.