Transverse crush of thin-walled rectangular section tubes

Thin-walled beams are always subjected to both indentation and bending collapse during the transverse crush under accidental events. However, the mechanisms for indentation are not clear, and few studies are concerned with this problem because of the complex deformation features. In this paper, the local indentation behavior of thin-walled aluminum rectangular tubes by a cylindrical indenter with a rigid flat base as a support is investigated experimentally, numerically and theoretically. Quasi-static crushing tests of square tubes are carried out first and numerical simulations of the tests are then performed by nonlinear finite element code LS-DYNA. On the basis of the experimental observations, an analytical model is established to analyze typical characteristics of the structural response and deformation mechanisms of the specimens. By assuming rigid-perfectly plastic material, the crushing force response with respect to the crushing distance can be predicted by the proposed model. Comparisons show that the theoretical predictions are in good agreement with experimental and simulation results. (c) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.