Quasi-static crushing and collision protective performance of an innovative steel-GFRP-foam sandwich fender: Experiment investigation and engineering application

To improve the protective performance of existing crashworthy devices, a novel steel-glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP)-foam sandwich fender was proposed. Quasi-static compression tests were conducted to study the crushing resistance for this fender with different foam densities. Furthermore, collision protective experiments were taken to demonstrate an effective crashworthy property of the innovative fender. A detailed numerical model was established and validated through corresponding test data. Moreover, this developed sandwich fender was applied in a full-scale ship-bridge collision simulation. Its anti-collision effectiveness in practical engineering was also evaluated. Then, the influence of the GFRP lattice configuration on the fender protective characteristic was thoroughly discussed. Quasi-static experiment results illustrated that the sandwich fender with the average foam density (50 kg/m³) owned a better crushing resistance. Collision test results showed that an efficient gradient energy-dissipating pattern was displayed in the GFRP-foam core, and a significantly prolonged impact duration could increase the personnel survival possibility in realistic collision accidents. Prototype collision simulation results revealed that this proposed fender was an excellent protective structure, especially for the composite device with a DO (dislocation orthogonal)-type GFRP lattice configuration. However, the VO (vertical orthogonal)-DO-type fender couldn't become an optimal crashworthy device, particularly in fully-loaded high-energy collisions.