An insight to improve crushing energy absorption capacity of cylindrical tubes using corrugation under axial compression loading

Abstract

The need for lightweight components with better energy-absorption capacity (EA) is vital in automotive applications. Thin-walled cylindrical tubes are globally used as passive devices for their sufficient energy absorption performance and lightweight. Despite their good energy absorbing capacity, initial peak crush force (IPCF) during crushing is a critical issue, which has a prospective to lead severe injury to the passengers. Corrugation may lead to a collapse in a controlled manner and improve notable energy absorption efficiency (EA) compared to traditional cylindrical tubes. Hence, in this research, a new tubular profile is introduced with corrugation to enhance the EA capacities of conventional cylindrical tubes. An FE model was developed using ABAQUS software to explore the effect of corrugation numbers (1, 2, and 3) and their position (top, middle, and bottom) on crushing mode and energy absorption behaviour of tubes. The numerical findings confirmed that the corrugated tubes exhibit advantages in the energy absorption capacity compared to conventional cylindrical tubes. The energy absorption and deformation modes depend strongly on the position and number of corrugations in addition to the wavelength. By comparing the deformation pattern of corrugated tubes with conventional tubes, the reduction of IPCF of about 42.17 % and an enhancement of EA of about 23.8 % were witnessed in the corrugated tubes. Since corrugated tubes had better energy absorption capacity, these could be used as energy absorbers in place of conventional cylindrical tubes in automotive fields.