Deformation and Energy Absorption of Aluminum Foam Filled Square Tubes

Abstract:

Modeling and numerical simulation of aluminum foam filled square tubes under axial impact loading is presented. The foam-filled thin-walled square tubes are modeled as shell wherein, foam core is modeled by incorporating visco-elastic plastic foam model in Altair® RADIOSS. Deformation and energy absorption studies with single, bi-tubular, and multi-tube structure with and without aluminum foam core are carried out for assessing its effectiveness in crashworthiness under the identical conditions. It is observed that the multi-tube structure with foam core modify the deformation modes considerably and results in substantial increase in energy absorption capacity in comparison with the single and multi-tube without foam core. Moreover, the multi-tube foam filled structure shows complicated deformation modes due to the significant effect of stress wave propagation. This study will help automotive industry to design superior crashworthy components with multi-tube foam filled structures and will reduce the experimental trials by conducting the numerical simulations.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volume 585)
• Pages: 34-38
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.585.34
• Online since: November 2012
• Authors: Manmohan Dass Goel, Laxminarayan Krishnappa
• Keywords: Crash, Deformation, Energy Absorption, Foam, Foam-Filled Tube, Impact

References

[1] A. A. A. Alghamdi, Collapsible impact energy absorbers: an overview, Th-Wall. Str. 39 (2001) 189-213.

[2] N. Jones, Structural Impact, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge U. K., 1989.

[3] M. Langseth, O. S. Hopperstad, Static and dynamic axial crushing of square thin walled aluminium extrusions, Int. J. Imp. Eng. 18(7-8) (1996) 949-968.

DOI: 10.1016/s0734-743x(96)00025-5

[4] M. Langseth, O. S. Hopperstad, T. Berstad, Crashworthiness of aluminium extrusions: validation of numerical simulation, effect of mass ratio and impact velocity, Int. J. Imp. Eng. 22(1999) 829-854.

DOI: 10.1016/s0734-743x(98)00070-0

[5] T. Wierzbicki, W. Abramowicz, On the crushing mechanics of thin-walled structures, J. App. Mech. 50(4) (1983) 727-734.

DOI: 10.1115/1.3167137

[6] W. Abramowicz, N. Jones, Dynamic axial crushing of square tubes, Int. J. Imp. Eng. 2(2) (1984) 179-208.

[7] W. Abramowicz, T. Wierzbicki, Axial crushing of multicorner sheet metal columns, J. App. Mech. 56(1) (1989) 113-120.

DOI: 10.1115/1.3176030

[8] M. Seitzberger, F.G. Rammerstoffer, H.P. Degischer, R. Gradinger, Crushing of axially compressed steel tubes filled with aluminium foam, Acta Mech. 125 (1997) 93-105.

DOI: 10.1007/bf01177301

[9] J. Banhart, MetallschaÈume, Proceedings of Symposium MetallschaÈume. 6-7 March, 1997, Bremen, Verlag MIT, Bremen, Germany.

[10] D. P. Mondal, M. D. Goel, S. Das, Effect of strain rate and relative density on compressive deformation behaviour of closed cell aluminium-fly ash composite foam, Mat. Des. 30(2009) 1268-1274.

DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2008.06.059

[11] D. P. Mondal, M. D. Goel, S. Das, Compressive deformation and energy absorption characteristics of closed cell aluminium-fly ash particle composite foam, Mat. Sci. Eng. A, 507(1-2) (2009) 102-109.

DOI: 10.1016/j.msea.2009.01.019

[12] Theory Manual, Altair(R) RADIOSS(TM) Version 10.0., 2009.

[13] A. A. N. Aljawi, M. Abd-Rabou, S. Asiri, Finite element and experimental analysis of square tubes under dynamic axial crushing, European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering ECCOMAS 2004 P. Neittaanmäki, T. Rossi, K. Majava, and O. Pironneau (Eds.) R. Owen and M. Mikkola (Assoc. Eds.), Jyväskylä, 24-8 July 2004.