On the bending response of natural fibre composite tubes with various lengths and thicknesses

Abstract

Flax fibre-reinforced polymer was used to manufacture 27 tubes. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of length and wall thickness on the tubes’ bending capacity, strain behaviour, and failure mechanism which was investigated by conducting four-point loading experiments. The results indicated that with increasing the tube length, the failure mode of the tubes changed from ring-type deformation mode for short tubes to shear mode for medium-length and then to the bending mode for long tubes. While for short tubes, the largest strains developed in the hoop direction of the cross-section at mid-height, bottom, or top; for medium-length and long tubes, the largest strains occurred in the axial direction of the top or bottom cross-section.