Experimental and Numerical Study - Effects of Crush Initiators under Quasi-Static Axial Load of Thin Wall Square Tube

Abstract

Crush initiators are used to improve the energy absorption and reduce the peak crush load at the time of the initial accident. This study aims to determine the effect of crush initiators on thin-walled square tube of local product which is applied on the front rail Electric Cars University of Indonesia under the quasi static axial loads. Crush initiator was designed in the form of two parallel holes with a diameter of 6.5 mm at a distance of 20 mm from the surface of the tube on each side. Analysis was done by comparing the experimental result with the result of numerical analysis by using finite element method of ANSYS. The result showed the significant effect from the crush initiators on decreasing the peak crush load and increasing the energy absorption and showed a similar pattern between the experimental and numerical computation result.