Theoretical and numerical simulation investigations on axial energy absorption character of thin-walled multi-cell tube

Abstract

Based on the simplified super folding element (SSFE) theory and constitutive element (CE) method, a theoretical model was proposed to predict mean crushing force of polygonal thin-walled multi-cell tube. The deformation modes and energy absorption character of square, hexagon and octagon thin-walled multi-cell tube with inner panels were obtained by using numerical simulation under quasi-static axial compression. The results show that theoretical predictions and numerical simulation are in good agreement with previous experimental results. The energy absorption character of polygonal thin-walled multi-cell tube can be improved by adding inner panels.The improvement of specific energy absorption of square, hexagon and octagon thin-walled multi-cell tube with cruciform panel is greater than that of the tube with X-shaped panel, and increases by 68.936%, 17.725% and 15.297%, respectively. The normalized mean crushing force is related to effective crushing distance factor and width-thickness ratio, and increases with the increase of width-thickness ratio. The normalized mean crushing force of the multi-cell tube is higher than that of the corresponding single-cell tube.