Crushing analysis of tapered circular corrugated tubes subjected to impact loading

Abstract

The study investigates the crashworthiness of Magnesium AZ31 tapered circular corrugated tubes under axial and oblique impact. Nonlinear FEM code LS-DYNA is used for simulations with Belytschko–Tsay four-node shell elements on thin-walled tapered tubes. The study aims to analyse the effect of varying corrugations along the length of the tube on initial peak force and specific energy absorption (SEA). It is observed that the graded corrugations in amplitude facilitate the progressive collapse and uniform load–displacement behaviour of tapered tubes.