Impact Analysis of Thin-Walled Cylindrical Tubes

In this study, the energy dissipation as well as crash-worthiness of thin-walled tubes of different cross-sections after the addition of face plates, both, with and without foam cases under dynamic impact conditions are investigated through numerical simulations. The finite element code ABAQUS/Explicit is employed to carry out the simulations. Cylindrical tubes of different geometries, such as circle, ellipse, hexagon, square, and triangle, assigned by aluminum properties are considered for the impact analysis. The analysis is performed on four different configurations of the thin-walled tubes: (i) cylindrical tube alone, (ii) tube with face plate, (iii) tube with foam, (iv) tube with face and foam. The nonlinear distortion properties obtained through axial compression loading are used in the simulations. The addition of face plates to the thin-walled tubes alters the deformation modes as well as the folding pattern compared to the tube configurations without face, both, with and without foam addition. The outcomes after employing the face plates to the hexagonal thin-walled tube are observed to be exhibiting the least deviation in specific energy dissipation, as compared to the respective tube configurations without face plates.

Automated summary

The crash-worthiness and energy dissipation of thin-walled tubes with different cross-sections after the addition of face plates and foam cases under dynamic impact conditions were investigated through numerical simulations. The results showed that the addition of face plates significantly affected the deformation modes and folding patterns of the thin-walled tubes, with the best performance observed in the case of hexagonal tubes.