The Behaviour of Thin-Walled Cylinders with Reinforcing Inner Walls Subjected to High-Velocity Impact

Abstract

Thin cylindrical tubes as impact energy absorbers have been widely used in various fields. Previous researchers have proposed many methods to increase the ability to absorb energy by modifying the geometry or using different materials. This study discusses using reinforcing walls in the cylinder to increase energy absorption capability. We make thin cylindrical specimens made of aluminium alloy with a length of 150 mm, a diameter of 50 mm, and a thickness of 1 mm. Reinforcing walls are fitted in the cylinder with a vertical position of 1, 2, 3, and without supporting walls. An impactor moving at high velocity hits the up-end cylinder in the axial direction. The finite element method modelling results show that installing reinforcing walls in thin-walled cylinders increase the maximum impact force, decreases the maximum deformation, changes the deformation mode, and increases the energy absorption capability. The amount of wall added to the thin wall will affect the impact behaviour of the specimen. However, in this study, the presence of a wall will have an effect when the deformation reaches the location of the wall. Nevertheless, using this reinforcing wall also makes the manufacturing process more complex. Therefore, this study’s results are recommendations for the design of the impact energy absorption structural system.