Experimental and Numerical Simulation Investigation on Crushing Response of Foam-Filled Conical Tubes Stiffened with Annular Rings

In this paper, crashworthiness characteristics of conical steel tubes stiffened by annular rings and rigid polyurethane foam are investigated. For this purpose, wide circumferential rings are created from the outer surface of the conical tube at some determined areas along tube length. In fact, this method divides a long conical tube into several tubes of shorter length. When this structure is subjected to axial compression, folds are shaped within the space of these annular rings. In this study, several numerical simulations using ABAQUS 5.6 finite element explicit code are carried out to study of crashworthiness characteristics of the empty and the foam-filled thin-walled conical tubes. In order to verify these numerical results, a series of quasi-static axial compression tests are performed. Moreover, load-displacement curves, deformation mechanism of the structure, energy absorption, crush force efficiency (CFE), initial peak load with different number of rings are described under axial compression. The results show that a conical tube with stiff rings as a shock absorber could be improved or adjusted the crushing mode of deformation and energy absorption ability.