Some aspects of axial collapse of cylindrical thin-walled tubes

Quasi-static and impact tests were performed on round tubes of different sizes and made of aluminium and mild steel, both in as received and annealed conditions. Length, diameter and thickness of these tubes were varied in different tests, and cut-outs in the form of circular holes varying in diameter were laterally drilled in them. Typical histories of deformation of these tubes and their load-compression curves are presented, and influence thereon of the annealing process, the tube size or the discontinuity present is discussed. It is seen that the presence of holes alters the mode of collapse of the tubes and as a consequence, affords the possibility of avoiding Euler buckling even when relatively much longer tubes are employed. Relations are presented for the computation of the peak load and the mean collapse loads in terms of the Vickers hardness number and the other parameters. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.