Energy Absorbing Characteristics of a Graded Honeycomb Structure Under Impact

Abstract

Energy absorption is becoming a challenging issue in various applications where safety is a primary concern. Increasing demands on crash protection systems in the arena of public safety confirms the need for superior energy absorbing materials and structures to meet stringent requirements for alleviating the impact damage. In this paper, a compact energy absorbing honeycomb structure is presented; the structure is reproduced from the graded cellular geometry observed in a banana peel. The energy absorbing characteristics of the structure at high impact velocities are studied by means of non-linear dynamic finite element simulations using ABAQUS. The structure mitigates impact in a confined space through a uniform layer wise collapsing mechanism. As compared to static and low dynamic cases, an increase in the crushing strength of the structure is observed for high impact loads. An analytical model is presented, which predicts the behavior of the structure adequately for high impact velocities.