Origami concave tubes for energy absorption

Abstract

The paper investigates the energy absorption performance of a new type of thin-walled tubes named as origami concave tubes whose cross-sections are concave polygons. Through the introduction of origami initiators, a reliable and progressive buckling failure mode can be successfully triggered, which is not a common feature for tubes with concave cross-sections. These origami concave tubes can achieve ultra-high energy absorption capability accompanied with relatively low peak forces. A comprehensive numerical, experimental, and theoretical analysis has been performed which shows that origami concave tubes can achieve 3.3 times the specific energy absorption of the comparable square tubes. We have also illustrated that origami concave tubes are approaching the theoretical limit of energy absorption.