Assessment of dynamic crushing and energy absorption characteristics of thin-walled cylinders due to axial and oblique impact load

Reliable and accurate method of computationally aided design processes of advanced thin walled structures in automotive industries are much essential for the efficient usage of smart materials, that possess higher energy absorption in dynamic compression loading. In this paper, most versatile components i.e., thin walled crash tubes with different geometrical profiles are introduced in view of mitigating the impact of varying cross section in crash behavior and energy absorption characteristics. Apart from the geometrical parameters such as length, diameter and thickness, the non-dimensionalized parameters of average forces which control the plastic bending moment for varying thickness has explored in view of quantifying its impact on the crashworthiness of the structure. The explicit finite element code ABAQUS is utilized to conduct the numerical studies to examine the effect of parametric modifications in crash behavior and energy absorption. Also the simulation results are experimentally validated. It is evident that the circular cross-sectional tubes are preferable as high collision impact shock absorbers due to their ability in withstanding axial and oblique impact loads effectively. Furthermore, the specific energy absorption (SEA), crash force efficiency (CFE), plastic bending moment, peak force responses and its impact for optimally tailoring a design to cater the crashworthiness requirements are investigated. The primary outcome of the study is to provide sufficient information on circular tubes for the use of energy absorbers where impact oblique loading is expected.