Bending response of cotton, coir and glass/epoxy tubes

In this paper, finite Element analysis on cotton, coir, and glass/epoxy tubes under bending load has been carried out. Tubes of circular and square cross section, each of three and six layers and 250 mm total length were modeled using ANSYS finite element analysis. The circular tube was of 50 mm inner diameter, and the inner cross section of the square tube was (44.3 × 44.3) mm2. Load-displacement relations, crush force efficiency, energy absorption and failure mechanism of the tested tubes were investigated. Effect of number of layers and cross section of the tube on the performance of the tubes were discussed. Finite element analysis results were validated by comparing it with the literature. It has been found that the increase of number of layers from 3 to 6 and material type have significant influence on the ultimate bending load and absorbed energy. Failure mechanism of the tubes was also discussed.