Abstract
FRP shows high energy absorption properties due to characteristic fracture, which is caused by making taper at the one end of FRP. The tip of tapered region is sharp and this region undertakes the initial point of failure of FRP. However, the tapered region would be damaged by light accident and it has possibility not to create high energy absorption properties which could be obtained by sharp taper. It is necessary to develop new crushing method without taper. In this study, we proposed one of new crushing methods by using special crushing triggers for non-tapered FRP pipes. Two types of trigger were used; one of them was the internal mandrel trigger and the other was the cap trigger. In consequence, FRP pipes showed higher energy absorption performance according to the trigger with smaller shoulder radius. Moreover the specimen with the cap trigger showed higher energy absorption performance than that with the internal mandrel trigger.