Transactions on the Built Environment vol 32, © 1998 WIT Press, www.witpress.

com, ISSN 1743-3509

The effect of induced imperfections on the

formation of the first lobe of symmetric
progressive buckling of thin- walled square
tubes
N.S. Marshall; G.N. Nurick
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cape
Town, f rh/afe #ag TfcWeWc/z 7707,

Abstract

An experimental investigation showing the effect of induced imperfections on

the symmetric progressive buckling of thin-walled square mild steel tubes is
presented. The imperfections include: a circular hole; indentations of various
shapes; and combinations of a hole positioned centrally in an indentation. In all
cases identical imperfections were induced symmetrically in opposite walls of
the tube. The results indicate that the ultimate buckling load of the tube
decreases with an increase in the severity of the imperfection. The distance
between the plastic hinges that form the first lobe of buckling decreases with
two opposing holes, but increases with large indentations. The change in the
size of the first lobe leads to instabilities in the symmetric buckling mode which
in turn leads to a decrease in the stroke of the tube. The results further indicate
that combining a hole with an indentation has a cumulative effect on both the
ultimate buckling load and the size of the first lobe. The stability of the
symmetric progressive buckling of the tube is retained while decreasing the
ultimate buckling load significantly for a range of indentation sizes and hole
diameters.

1 Introduction

It is an established practice to use the energy absorption characteristics of

the symmetric progressive buckling of long tubular structural members in
many impact situations because a large amount of kinetic energy can be
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156 Structures Under Shock and Impact

Pult
Decrease Pult to the level
of Phigh

10 15
Displacement (mm)

Figure 1 Typical force-displacement curve of quasi-static symmetric

progressive buckling of a thin-walled square mild steel tube.
(50.8x50.8x1.2mm) (Note: Plow: low peak force; Phigh: high peak
force; Pmean: mean force; Pult: ultimate buckling force)

absorbed in a restricted distance. There are two basic requirements for

controlled and efficient energy absorption by thin-walled tubes. Firstly, to
maximise the energy absorption capacity of the structure the entire stroke
should be used to absorb energy, i.e. instabilities in the buckling
mechanism that initiate euler buckling should be avoided. Secondly, to
maintain smooth deceleration, the force exerted during energy absorption
should be constant over the entire stroke.
An example of a force displacement curve of a thin-walled square
section tube collapsing in the symmetric progressive buckling mode is
shown in figure 1. The figure illustrates that after the maximum peak force
is reached, the force oscillates about a mean load for the duration of the
stroke. Thefirstpeak force may exceed the subsequent peaks by more than
a factor of 2. To reasonably approximate a constant force throughout the
stroke, the maximum peak force should be decreased to the magnitude of
subsequent peak forces.
Many research efforts have been devoted to the analysis and
optimisation of the energy absorption characteristics of thin-walled tubular
structures *"*\ Typically indentations are used to decrease the ultimate peak
force and to induce controlled symmetric progressive buckling ™. It has
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Structures Under Shock and Impact 157

been reported that while the depth of the indentation can be used to scale
the ultimate buckling load ^, the shape of the indentation and the position
of subsequent indentations effects the collapse mode ^°. The introduction
of holes in circular tubes has also been reported ""^ as a means to decrease
the ultimate buckling load and induce specific buckling modes. In this
paper the effect of holes; dents; and a combination of the two is explored.

2 Experimental Program

The specimens in this series of tests are seam-welded mild steel square
tubes. Three lengths of tube 50.8mm wide and 1.2 mm thick were used.
Each length was assigned a letter by which the test specimens were
numbered.
Imperfections were induced mechanically into the tubes. In all cases two
identical imperfections were induced symmetrically in opposite walls of the
tube. The induced imperfections include: a hole; indentations of various
shapes; and a combination of a hole positioned centrally in a dished
indentation. Holes of 16, 22, 25, 32 and 38mm diameter were drilled into
the tubes (A2-A6,G8,G18). Cylinders of different diameters (2mm (AA1-
AA3); 30mm (AB1-AB5); 50mm(ACl-AC4)) were used to induce
opposing parallel indentations. Dished indentations were induced using a
hemispherical indenter with a radius of the order of 100mm (G1-G3,G5-
G7). Combined imperfections were induced by first drilling a hole and
subsequently indenting the tube with a hemispherical indenter positioned
symmetrically above the hole (G9-G16).
A number of specimens without imperfections were quasi-statically
crushed (A1,AAO,G4). These "perfect" specimens were used as standards
by which to compare the collapse characteristics of tubes with induced
imperfections.
The tubes were quasi-statically crushed on an Instron Tester with a
maximum rating of 20000M (89kN). The specimens were loaded between
parallel plates with a constant velocity of 0.2 inches/min (5.08 mm/min).
Quasi-static uniaxial tensile tests were performed from which the static
yield stress and the ultimate tensile stress of the material was found using
the Cowper-Symonds equation " with typical constants for mild steel
(D=40.4s~*;q-5). Material from each of the lengths of tubing was tested
and the results of the tests are presented in table 1.
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158 Structures Under Shock and Impact

3 Results And Discussion

Table 1. Tensile Test Results

Tube Static Yield Stress (cr*) Ultimate Tensile Stress (UTS)
MPa MPa
A 274 315
AA,AB,AC 285 324
G 282 322

The results of the crushing tests are presented in table 2, Buckling mode
refers to the mode of collapse of the tube is defined after the table.

Table 2. Quasi-static crushing tests of 50mm square tubes

test hole diam. dent depth tube length Pult Phigh Pmean buckling
no. mm mm mm kN kN kN mode
Al 0 300 74 33 22 sp
A2 16 300 69 30 23 sspi
A3 22 300 62 28 21 sspi
A4 25 300 51 31 21 ebi
A5 32 300 52 25 22 tr
A6 38 300 45 18 15 tr
AAO 300 78 32 sp
AA1 5.0 300 34 34 sp
AA2 8.8 300 33 sspii
AA3 11.6 300 34 sspii
AB1 2.8 300 40 34 sp
AB2 5.4 300 31 34 sp
AB3 7.6 300 31 28
AB4 8.7 300 33 24 sspii
AB5 11.3 300 34 29 sspii
AC1 2.8 300 42 31 sp
AC2 6.1 300 32 31 sp
AC3 8.8 300 34 31
AC4 12.0 300 36 sspii
Gl 1.3 250 52 22 21 sspii - ebii
G2 3.7 250 45 27 20 sspii - ebii
G3 6 250 42 30 20 sspii - ebii
G4 250 75 35 19 sp
G5 6.5 250 41 30 20 sspii - ebii
G6 4 250 45 26 21 sspii - ebii
G7 1.5 250 53 30 16 sspii - ebii
G8 16 250 72 23 sspi
G9 25 6.3 250 36 26 20 sspii
G10 25.7 4 250 37 28 20 sp
Gil 25.7 1.5 250 44 33 24 sspi
G12 32 5.9 250 33 34 17 sspii
G13 32.5 4 250 34 34 18 sp
G14 32 1.2 250 41 41 sspi
G15 16.4 4 250 40 40 sspii
G16 38.4 4 250 31 31 sspi
G18 25 250 57 30 19 sspi
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Structures Under Shock and Impact 159

Note:
sp: symmetric progressive buckling mode
sspi: skew symmetric progressive buckling mode; caused by a
decrease in the size of a lobe
sspii: skew symmetric progressive buckling mode; caused by an
increase in the size of a lobe
ebi: an extreme case of sspi which leads to overall buckling.
ebii: an extreme case of sspi which leads to overall buckling.
tr: tearing axially along the tube.

3.1 "Perfect" specimens

Specimens Al, AAO and G4, which did not have induced imperfections,
collapsed in the symmetric progressive buckling mode. The ultimate
buckling load is approximately 75kN. The high peak force, or the load to
which the ultimate buckling load should ideally be reduced, is 35kN.

3.2 Simple Imperfections

3.2.1 Two holes drilled opposite one another

The ultimate buckling load decreases linearly as the hole diameter increases
as shown in figure 2. This would indicate that to satisfy an ultimate
buckling load of 35kN, a hole approximately 45mm in diameter is required.
However, for holes greater than 32mm the edges inter link and the tube
tears instead of folds, as shown in figure 3 (A5, A6).
A linear regression of the data points of the holed specimens is shown
as a solid line in figure 2. The extrapolated line intersects the ultimate
buckling load of a specimen without holes (75kN) for a hole of 10.5mm.
This infers that holes smaller than 10.5mm do not decrease the ultimate
buckling load of the tubes.
The hole diameter appears to also affect the formation of thefirstlobe.
An increase in the diameter of the holes causes a decrease in the size of the
first lobe as illustrated in figure 3. The result of a decrease in the size of
thefirstlobe is that the lobes form skew and destabilise the buckling mode.
Surko^ and Meng et al™ used Von Karman's postulate of effective
plate width to calculate the compressive buckling load of square tubes. In
order to simplify the elastic-plastic analysis of a thin plate simply
supported at its edges and loaded compressively in plane it is proposed that
the load is carried in two strips adjacent to the edges. The width of each
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160 Structures Under Shock and Impact

10 15 20 25 30 35
Hole Diameter (mm)

Figure 2 The effect of two holes aligned opposite one another on the
ultimate buckling load of square tubes. (The solid line is a least square
regression through the data points of specimens with holes, the dashed
line indicates the ultimate buckling load of "perfect" specimens.)

Figure 3 Quasi-statically crushed square tubes with two opposing holes.

(The diameter of the holes increases from left to right. It appears that the
size of thefirstlobe decreases with increasing hole diameter until tearing
occurs)
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Structures Under Shock and Impact 161

strip is defined as half the effective plate width and is given by:

* *** Sf (i)

where : E is Elastic modulus; h is effective plate width; t is wall thickness;

ju is Poisson's ratio; Oy is yield stress.
This concept means that for a tube of sufficient width (greater than the
effective plate width of the tube) a hole in the centre of the width will not
effect the load bearing capacity of the tube if the hole is small enough not
to encroach into the load bearing strips.
Using eqn (1), for a 1.2mm thick plate with an elastic modulus of
200GPa and yield stress of SOOMPa, the effective width of the plate is
58.9mm. This exceeds the width of the tube, and hence a hole of any
diameter should effect the load carrying capacity of the tube. However the
tube corners may carry extra load which would account for the discrepancy
in the effective plate width of the tube. The decrease in the size of the first
lobe is also consistent with the idea of effectively decreasing the width of
the tube.

3.2.2 Two opposing Parallel Indentations

Studies reducing the ultimate buckling load of the tube by inducing
indentations shaped to resemble the initiation of progressive buckling lobes
have been reported **. These results show a decrease in the ultimate
buckling load with increasing severity of the predent.
The present study includes inducing indentations using cylinders of
different radii. The radius of the indentation is essentially the same as the
radius of the cylinder used to create the indentation.
The results of parallel indentations on the ultimate buckling load of the
tubes plotted in figure 4 show that the ultimate buckling load decreases
with increasing severity of the indentation. It appears that the radius of the
indentation does not effect the magnitude of the ultimate buckling load. The
slight increase in the ultimate buckling load of the tubes with indentations
exceeding 8mm is an anomaly. These specimens demonstrate severe
instability in the buckling mode similar to that of specimen AC4 in figure
5. This may be as a result of a slight deviation in the specimen preparation.
Surko^ reported that the shape of the first lobe of the buckled tube is
determined by the shape of the indentation. The length of tube affected by
the indentation increases with the depth of the indentation. It is therefore
expected that the size of thefirstlobe will increase as the depth of the
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162 Structures Under Shock and Impact

, 3 8 8 6 8 8 3 8 8

1 Diameter
Ultimate Buckling Load (kN

oflndenter
O Sharp
*0 + 2mm
I (T Xx A 30mm
• 50mm
••-«: "" X dished
0 0

c) 2 ^ 4 ^ 6 , 8 10 . 12 14
Dent Depth at the comer (mm)
Figure 4 The effect of opposing parallel indentations and opposing dished
indentations on the ultimate buckling load of square tubes.

Figure 5 Quasi-statically crushed square tubes with opposing parallel

indentations. (The indentations were induced with a cylinder of diameter
50mm, and the depth of the indentations increases from left to right. It
appears that the size of the first lobe increases with increasing
indentation depth.)
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Structures Under Shock and Impact 163

indentation increases. Tubes indented using a 50 mm diameter cylinder and

crushed quasi-statically are shown in figure 5. These specimens
demonstrate the increase in the size of the first lobe with an increase in the
depth of the indentation.

3.2.3 Dished Indentations

Dished indentations produced using the hemispherical indenter are deeper
in the centre than at the corners of the tube. The indentation depth reported
is the depth at the corners of the tube. The results of the depth of the
indentations on the ultimate buckling load are plotted in figure 4. It is clear
that the effect of dished indentations on the ultimate buckling load is less
marked than that of parallel indentations.
The effect on the stability of the symmetric buckling mode is shown in
figure 6. The trend is similar to, but more exaggerated than that of
indentations formed by cylindrical indenters. The photograph shows that
the size of the first lobe increases with an increase in the depth of the
indentation. As thefirstlobe develops, opposite walls of the tube meet, thus
preventing the full formation of the lobe. The effective stroke of the tube is
therefore significantly decreased (by between 1 and 2 tube widths).

A^ , #^#^^^#^P% jBk

Figure 6 Quasi-statically collapsed square tubes with opposing dished

indentations. (The indentations were induced with a hemispherical
indenter of radius 100mm, and the depth of the indentations increases
from left to right. The size of the first lobe increases significantly with
increasing indentation depth.)
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164 Structures Under Shock and Impact

3.3 Combined imperfections

3.3.1 Dished indentations with holes

The effect of the combined imperfections with respect to depth of the
indentation at the corners of the tube is plotted in figure 7. The same data
is presented with respect to the diameter of the hole in figure 8. The results
indicate that holes and indentations acting in combination have a greater
effect on the ultimate buckling load than either holes or indentations acting
independently.
Specimens with 32mm holes and indentations increasing in depth from
left to right are shown in Figure 9. The first lobe in the specimen on the left
(G14; 1.5mm dent depth) appears to be smaller than the natural lobe size
for the tube. The effect of the large hole dominates the effect of a small
indentation. The tube on the right of the figure (G12; 6.3mm dent depth)
has an increased first lobe size. The greater dent depth dominates the effect
on the distance between the plastic hinges.
The specimen in the centre of thefigure(G13; 4mm dent depth) shows
regular lobe formation, where the size of the first lobe is similar to the
subsequent lobes. The influence that the 32mm holes have on decreasing
the lobe size is countered by the 4mm indentations which increase the size
of the lobe. Hence this combination gives a first lobe of similar size to the
natural lobe size.
Similar observations are made from figure 10. The specimens all have
indentations of between 3.5mm and 4mm. The left hand specimen (G2) is
without holes, while the other specimens have holes increasing in size from
left toright.Again the tubes with smaller holes and larger indentations (G2
and G15) have an enlargedfirstlobe; the tube with larger holes and smaller
indentations (G16) has a smallerfirstlobe. The specimens with holes of 25
and 32mm (G10 and G13 respectively), and indentations 3.5mm to 4mm
exhibit a first lobe sufficiently close in size to the natural lobe size so as to
allow stable symmetric progressive buckling. This indicates that the range
of imperfection dimensions that achieve an adequate first lobe size for
stable symmetric progressive buckling is reasonably large.
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Structures Under Shock and Impact 165

1 Hole
3

Diameter
Ultimate Buckling Load (kN

(mm)
8

1
+ none
8

1 "
) o ++ . X16
6

A X *• A22
A ° ° 025
^ 0 ^
8

A 32
S

038
o
o

] 2 4 6 (3
Dent Depth at the comer (mm)
Figure 7 The effect of the depth of dished indentations on the ultimate
buckling load of specimens with opposing combined imperfections
o S 8 8 S 8 8 3 £

Dent Depth
Ultimate Buckling Load (kN

* (mm)
+ none
1 4 *
n 1.2-1 .5
: o •
1 X 0 X 3.0-4.0
X
a x A 5.9-6.5

) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Hole Diameter (mm)
Figure 8 The effect of the diameter of holes on the ultimate buckling load
of specimens with opposing combined imperfections.
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166 Structures Under Shock and Impact

Figure 9 The effect of the depth of dished indentations on the ultimate

buckling load of specimens with opposing combined imperfections (The
tubes all had opposing 32mm diameter holes and the depth of the
indentations increases from left to right.)

Figure 10 The effect of the diameter of holes on the ultimate buckling load
of specimens with opposing combined imperfections (The tubes all had
indentations of depth 3.5-4mm. The diameter of the hole increases from
left to right (specimen G2 has no hole).
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Structures Under Shock and Impact 167

4 Conclusions

The decrease in the ultimate buckling load with the introduction of simple
imperfections illustrated in figures 2, 4, 7, and 8 is consistent with the
literature ™*. The ultimate buckling load can be controlled by adjusting the
severity of the imperfection. For the tubes considered herein the ultimate
buckling load should be reduced to 35kN. The load is then comparable to
the subsequent peak loads.
The photographs (figures 3, 5, and 6) show that as the severity of
simple imperfections increases, so the stability of the symmetric buckling
mode decreases. The implication is that in many cases the imperfection
severity cannot be increased enough to decrease the ultimate buckling load
sufficiently. The stroke of the tube would be compromised and thus the
maximum amount of energy that can be absorbed would decrease.
The stability of the buckling mode is compromised due to the change in
the size of the first buckling lobe. Holes effectively decrease the width of
the tube, and thus decrease the size of thefirstbuckling lobe. Indentations
increase the size of thefirstlobe.
Combined imperfections have a greater effect on the decrease in the
ultimate buckling load than either holes or indentations acting
independently.
The effect of holes and indentations on the change in the size of the first
lobe is cumulative. A combination of an indentation and a hole of the
appropriate severity therefore results in a first lobe the same size as
subsequent lobes. The stability of the buckling mode is thus not
compromised.

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168 Structures Under Shock and Impact

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