Behavior of Thin-Walled Square Tube and Tubular Hat Sections Subjected to Low Velocity Impact Loading

Abstract

In this paper, the prediction and comparison of the behavior of thin-walled prismatic structures (square tube, top-hat and double-hat sections) in absorbing energy using theoretical and numerical analysis are presented. Equations to predict crushing length and dynamic mean crushing force of top-hat and double-hat sections were applied for material mild steel St37 and the effect of spot weld positions are also figured out. For comparison, an explicit non-linear commercial finite element code LS-DYNA was used to predict the response of the structures subjected to axial crushing. It was found that results of numerical methods and theoretical prediction have good agreement. Assuming that the failure of spot-weld is neglected, mean dynamic crushing force of double-hat section is 90% higher compared to that of square tube.