Modeling the progressive axial crushing of foam-filled aluminum tubes using smooth particle hydrodynamics and coupled finite element model/smooth particle hydrodynamics

As alternatives to the classical finite element model (FEM), a meshless smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, in which the discrete particles represent a solid domain, and a coupled FEM/SPH modeling technique were investigated for the numerical simulation of the quasi-static axial crushing of polystyrene foam-filled aluminum thin-walled aluminum tubes. The results of numerical simulations, load-deformation histories, fold lengths and specific absorbed energies, were found to show satisfactory correlations with those of experiments and FEM. The results further proved the capabilities of the SPH Method and coupled FEM/SPH modeling technique in predicting the crushing behavior of foam-filled thin-walled tubes. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.