Experimental and Numerical Study on Crashworthiness Parameters of Mild Steel Square Tube under Quasi-Static Axial Compression

Abstract

In the present research, an experimental and numerical study on the crush response of square tube is presented. The explicit Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in LS-DYNA software is carried out to simulate crash behaviour under the quasi-static test conditions. Compression load is applied quasi-statically in an experimental study on the square tube specimens using Universal Testing Machine (UTM). In quasi-static test the bottom platen speed used is 1 mm/min. From experimental testing symmetric collapse mode is observed in all deformed specimens. The development of the symmetric collapse mode in a Finite Element (FE) model is also observed. Thus fold formation and crush response predicted by FE analysis are observed to be in very good correlation with the results obtained from experimental testing. Furthermore, the effect of the thickness of tube on crashworthiness parameters is investigated. From the FE analysis, it is found that the thickness of the square tube influences significantly the crashworthiness parameters.