Experimental and numerical investigations on axial crushing of square cross-sections tube with vertical wave

Abstract

In this paper, wavy square absorbers were experimentally and numerically investigated. Numerical simulations were performed with LS-Dyna software on 36 wavy absorbers and their crushing properties were extracted and compared with the simple one. The effect of different parameters, including wave height, wave depth, and wave type; either internal or external on the crushing characteristics were also investigated. To experimentally create corrugation to validate the numerical results, a set of steel mandrel and matrix along with press machines were used. Since the initial specimens were brittle, they were subjected to heat treatment and annealing to gain the required ductility for forming with mandrel and matrix. The annealing of aluminum shells resulted in a 76%increase in ultimate strain and a 60% and 56% decrease in yield and ultimate stresses, respectively. The results showed that with increasing half-wave height in wavy square absorbers, the maximum force was first reduced and then increased. It was also found that in the specimen with constant diameter and half-wave depth, an increment in the half-wave height led to an initial increase in efficiency, followed by a decline. According to the conducted investigations, the lowe maximum force can be observed in the specimen with zero half-wave depth as compared to those having a depth of 1 cm.