Dynamic crushing and energy absorption of bio-inspired shear thickening fluid-filled origami metastructure

Abstract

In this study, a novel approach is proposed to enhance the crushing efficiency and energy-absorbing performance of origami metastructure by incorporating the shear thickening fluid (STF), which mimics the existence of the viscoelastic material found inside the protective mechanism in nature. The dynamic crushing and energy-absorbing performances of the proposed STF-filled origami metastructure are numerically investigated using the commercial software LS-DYNA. A fluid-structure interaction (FSI) technique is employed to simulate the coupling between the structure parts and the infilled fluid. The crushing performances of the proposed STF-filled origami metastructure (STF-OM) are investigated and compared with the non-filled and viscous fluid-filled counterparts under various crushing velocities. The effects of the filled height of STF, the viscosity of STF, and the origami folding angle on the crushing performances of STF-OM are also investigated. It is found that the proposed STF-OM can generate a higher and more steady crushing force without inducing a significantly high initial peak force. Its crushing resistance and energy-absorbing capability increase with the increase in crushing velocity, demonstrating its adaptive crushing performance for various impact scenarios. The filled height and viscosity of STF, as well as the origami folding angle, significantly affect the energy-absorbing efficiency and crushing performance of the proposed structure.