Study on Safety Structures for Human Friendly Robots, etc. : Collapse and Reversible Behaviors of High Elastic Circular Pipes Subjected to Lateral Loading

Abstract

The final goal of this study is to produce safety structures for human friendly robots. This paper describes an experimental study on collapse and reversible behaviors of the specimens of polycarbonate circular pipe that are indented by round-shaped indenter at the midspan. From the experimental results, the load-displacement histeresis has a wide loop, namely high energy-absorbing ratio. The collapse loads and the energy-absorbing capabilities depend on the diameter of the pipes. The energy absorbing mechanism of the circular pipe is discussed.