Experimental Investigation of the Effect of Diameter Upon Low Velocity Impact Response of Glass Fiber Reinforced Composite Pipes

Abstract

The GRP (Glass Reinforced Polymer) composite pipes produced by filament winding technique are used in many fields such as the transmission of pressurized chemical liquids, industrial liquids, oil and natural gas transmission and construction materials. GRP composite pipes may be subjected to low velocity impacts for various reasons both during installation and service. The impact on the GRP composite pipe wall may lead to some nonvisible damages such as matrix crack, fiber damage, delamination and inter-layer separation. Composite pipes suffered strength loss due to these damages caused by impact cannot support the expected strength values during service. Pipes with three different diameters (054, 072 and 096 mm) were produced to investigate the damage caused by low velocity impact and to determine the effect of these damages on the strength losses of the composite pipe. In order to investigate the influence of low velocity impact damage, the produced pipes were subjected to impacts at the velocity of 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 m/s according to ASTM D 7136 and preliminary damage was formed. During low velocity impact tests, Force-Time, Force-Displacement and Energy-Time graphs were obtained and dynamic behavior of the pipes were examined. With the increase in diameter; it has been observed that the effect of low velocity impact is reduced and the damage after impact transformed into delamination damage rather than multiple damage.