Damage, deformation and residual burst strength of filament-wound composite tubes subjected to impact or quasi-static indentation

Thin-walled filament-wound E-glass fibre-reinforced epoxy tubes were subjected to lateral indentation in quasi-static and low speed impact tests and were then tested under internal pressure to determine their residual burst strength. The behaviour of tubes subjected to quasi-static and low velocity impact loading tests was found to be the same. Experimental strain measurements in quasi-static indentation tests showed a large degree of redistribution of strain with increasing deflection which resulted in local buckling failure away from the indentation point. Damage in the form of matrix cracking resulted from low energy indentation but did not reduce the residual burst strength of the tube.