Crashworthiness of hybrid composite-metal tubes with lateral corrugations in axial and oblique loadings

Abstract

In this paper, a meticulous parametric study has been conducted into the crashworthiness of tubes with lateral corrugations. Such corrugated aluminum tubes had already shown to have favourable results as energy absorbers. Consequently, in order to find the optimum structures, the impact of different parameters was to be found. In doing so, first a corrugated aluminum tube and a composite-corrugated aluminum tube were constructed, so that their results could be used to validate the numerical models. Then, 12 tubes were modelled. The variable parameters were the types of corrugations, number of corrugations, and the material of the tubes. These tubes underwent axial and oblique crushing (at 3 different angles). A number of tubes achieved great results in terms of energy absorption, which made them stand out from others. However, in order to find the optimum configuration in each condition, as there was not an obvious pattern based on which crashworthiness parameters would change, complex proportional assessment has been employed (COPRAS), by which, under three circumstances, i.e. results from axial crushing, oblique crushing, and considering both results, the best tubes were chosen.