Citation

Gozluklu B. Int. J. Crashworthiness 2016; 21(6): 566-586.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13588265.2016.1199254

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper presents a simple novel crash energy absorbing system made of plain aluminium thin-walled tubes and honeycomb. The proposed tube/honeycomb system is characterized by slightly shorter tubes inserted into the cells of the honeycomb with close fit. The individual tube and honeycomb structures are numerically modelled under low-speed vertical impact loading and compared with experiments conducted in this study. Next, three representative triangular sections, which involve the symmetric boundary conditions of each cell group, are employed to model the tube/honeycomb system. Load-displacement curves and deformation patterns are compared with the experiments. The proposed honeycomb/tube system is found to produce higher energy absorption capacities for both per unit mass and volume, compared to an ordinary superposition of the constituents. Almost a perfect crushing load plateau is achieved without a peak force. These enhancements are associated with the spontaneous pre-deformation of the tubes pushed by the collapsed honeycomb walls. This interaction also enables synchronised deformation throughout the crash. Finally, a parametric study is performed, based on the height difference between the tubes and honeycomb, which is found to be the determiner of the performance for the proposed system.

Language: en