Crashworthiness of double-cell conical tubes with different cross sections subjected to dynamic axial and oblique loads

Thin-walled tubes are increasingly used in automobile industries to improve structural safety.The present work deals with the collapse behavior of double-cell conical tubes subjected to dynamic axial and oblique loads.Crashworthiness of these tubes having different sections(e.g.,circular,square,hexagonal,octagonal,decagonal)was numerically investigated by using an experimentally validated finite element model generated in LS-DYNA.Geometry of these tubes was then optimized by decreasing the cross section dimensions at the distal end while the weight remained unchanged.Octagonal conical tube was finally found to be more preferable to the others as a collision energy absorber.In addition,square and circular tubes showed diamond deformation mode,while the other tubes collapsed in concertina mode.A decision making method called TOPSIS was finally implemented on the numerical results to select the most efficient energy absorber.

A comparative crashworthiness analysis of multi-cell polygonal tubes under axial and oblique loads

In order to investigate the energy absorption characteristics of multi-cell polygonal tubes with different cross-sectional configurations,firstly,the theoretical formulae of the mean crushing force under axial load for four multi-cell polygonal tubes were derived by combining the Super Folding Element theory with Zhang’s research results.These formulae can be used to validate the numerical model and quickly evaluate the energy absorption ability of multi-cell polygonal tubes.Furthermore,a comparative study on the energy absorption performance of eight multi-cell polygonal tubes under axial and oblique loads was conducted.The results show that all tubes have a stable mixed deformation mode under axial load.The multi-cell decagon tube has better energy-absorption ability compared with other tubes.Whenθis less than 10°,all the tubes maintain a stable deformation mode,and the multi-cell decagon tube also has the biggest crushing force efficiency and specific energy absorption among these eight tubes;meanwhile compared with the results atθ=0°,the specific energy absorption of all tubes decreases by about 8%-21%,while the crushing force efficiency increases by 20%-56%.However,at large angles 20°and 30°,all of the tubes collapse in bending modes and lose their effectiveness at energy absorption.

Multi-objective optimization of multi-cell conical structures under dynamic loads

In this paper,crashworthiness performance of multi-cell conical tubes with new sectional configuration design(i.e.square,hexagonal,octagonal,decagon and circular)has been evaluated under axial and three different oblique loads.The same weight conical tubes were comparatively studied using an experimentally validated finite element model generated in LS-DYNA.Complex proportional assessment(COPRAS)method was then employed to select the most efficient tube using two conflicting criteria,namely peak collapse force(PCF)and energy absorption(EA).From the COPRAS calculations,the multi-cell conical tube with decagonal cross-section(MCDT)showed the best crashworthiness performance.Furthermore,the effects of possible number of inside ribs on the crashworthiness of the decagonal conical tubes were also evaluated,and the results displayed that the tubes performed better as the number of ribs increased.Finally,parameters(the cone angle,θ,and ratio of the internal tube size to the external one,S)of MCDT were optimized by adopting artificial neural networks(ANN)and genetic algorithm(GA)techniques.Based on the multi-objective optimization results,the optimum dimension parameters were found to beθ=7.9o,S=0.46 andθ=8o,S=0.74 from the minimum distance selection(MDS)and COPRAS methods,respectively.

Bilateral shear strength of rectangular frame column based on simplified space truss-arch model

To investigate the bilateral shear strength of rectangular frame column subjected to oblique horizontal load, we presented a simplified space truss-arch model developed from unilateral truss-arch model. Main parameters in the new model were the cross-sectional area, transverse reinforcement raito, axial load, and material strength of the column. The reduction coefficient of concrete sterength owing to the severe cracking of column was also introduced in the model. Finally, 14 specimens under oblique horizontal load were tested to verified the feasibility and applicability of the space truss-arch model.