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The experimental and numerical quasi-static crushing responses of extruded closed cell polystyrene foam-filled thin-walled aluminum tubes were investigated. The numerical crash analysis of empty and foam-filled tubes was performed using the explicit finite element code PAM-CRASHe. Satisfactory agreements were generally achieved between the finite element model and experimental deformed shapes, load-displacements, fold lengths and specific energy absorptions. The model and experiments have also highlighted the several effects of foam filling on the crushing of thin-walled tubes. The energy absorptions in foam-filled tubes were further shown to be higher than the sum of the energy absorptions of empty tube (alone) and filler (alone).

Abstract:The experimental and numerical quasi-static crushing behaviors of Nomex TM honeycomb-filled thin-walled Al tubes were investigated. The honeycomb filler was modeled using a unit cell model. The numerical model and experimental results have shown that, 6.4 mm and 4.8 mm cell size honeycomb filling had no effect on the deformation mode (diamond); however 3.2 mm cell size honeycomb filling changed the deformation mode to mixed/concertina. Honeycomb filling was also shown to increase the specific energy absorption of filled tubes over that of Al tube. The specific energy absorption of honeycomb filling was further compared with those of tube wall thickening and Al closedcell foam filling.

The quasi-static axial crushing behavior of empty and Al and polystyrene foam-filled Al single, bitubular and multi-tube-packed (hexagonal and square packing) configurations were investigated experimentally and numerically. Tubes were modeled using finite element and coupled finite element/smooth particle hydrodynamics. The numerical specific absorbed energy (SAE) values, deformation patterns, load values and number of folds formed were found to show agreements with those of experiments. Among the tested tube configurations only hexagonal-and square-packed empty tube designs showed increased SAE values over that of single empty tube. Furthermore, foamfilled multi-tube designs both hexagonal-and square-packed designs were found energetically more efficient than Al foam-filled single tubes at similar foam filler densities. The increased SAE values of multi-tubes were attributed to the frictional forces of the multi-tube designs and constraining effect of the die walls accommodating the tubes.