A numerical and experimental study on the crash behavior of the extruded aluminum crash box with elastic support

Abstract

Thin-walled structures like crash boxes may be used as energy absorption members in automotive chassis. There have been many studies addressing the behaviors of energy absorption members on frontal crash. These researches have attempted to predict the energy absorption and maximum impact load in shell structures. The energy absorption and maximum impact load depend on many parameters including boundary condition, history of plastic deformation during metalworking, geometry; and material and impact energy (i.e. mass and velocity of the striker). This study examined the crash behavior of square tube made of the extruded aluminum alloy 6063T4 using an elastic boundary condition -instead of rigid boundary condition- on the bottom of a crash box, In addition, the effect of elastic boundary condition on energy absorption of square tubes under the impact load was investigated both numerically and experimentally. Results showed that using elastic boundary could change the deformation mode and decrease the maximum impact load. Further, a high correlation between the numerical and experimental results validated the finding's of the study.