Modification of the design of circular thin-walled tubes to enhance dynamic energy absorption characteristics: experimental and finite element analysis

A thin-walled tube is an energy absorber device that functions to dissipate kinetic energy into another form of energy during impact. The design of thin-walled tubes is a significant factor which affects to the energy absorption characteristics. This paper provides a comparative study between the original thin-walled tube designs and several modified tube designs that have been proposed. The main objective is to improve the energy absorption characteristics, such as energy absorption capacity, initial peak load, specific energy absorption (SEA) and crush force efficiency (CFE). Throughout this research, aluminium alloy AA6061-T6 has been used as the material for all tubes. For comparison, all of the tubes are developed with a circular shape with the same diameter, thickness and length. In addition, they are also impacted at the same kinetic energy under dynamic axial loading. Validated LS-DYNA finite element (FE) models have been used to simulate the impact of the thin-walled tubes. Compared to the original tube design, the modified tubes have improved energy absorption characteristics. A conical tube with a flat end cap was identified as the best performing tube among the modified tubes because it had the lowest initial peak load, a moderate energy absorption capacity and an excellent CFE and SEA. The findings from this study can be used as a guidance in designing thin-walled structure.