Energy absorbing capacities of braced metal tubes

doi:10.1016/0020-7403(83)90074-7

International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

Volume 25, Issues 9–10, 1983, Pages 649-667

https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-7403(83)90074-7 Get rights and content

Abstract

The collapse and energy dissipation characteristics of metal tubes braced with tension members are considered experimentally and load bounding techniques are employed to estimate collapse loads of such tubes. The results are applied in the full scale crash testing of a vehicle impact attenuation device composed of clusters of steel tubes and subjected to high speed roadway collisions.

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Cited by (39)

Energy absorption behaviour of an aluminium foam-filled circular-triangular nested tube energy absorber under impact loading
2021, Structures
Citation Excerpt :
External constraints or nested tubes were widely adopted to enhance the energy absorption performance of the single tube [6,21-26]. It was found that the energy absorption of a circular tube subjected to lateral loading was improved with the presence of external constraints owing to more severe plastic deformation as compared to the counterparts without external constraints [21,22]. With regard to the nested tubes which consist of at least two tubes, significant improvement in energy absorption performance could also be observed [24].
A novel aluminium foam-filled circular-triangular nested tube (AFCTNT) energy absorber was developed in this study, and its energy absorption behaviour under impact loading was experimentally and numerically studied. Drop-weight impact tests on the AFCTNT energy absorbers with different volumes of aluminium foam filler were first conducted to obtain their energy absorption parameters, force–displacement responses, and deformation modes. In addition, numerical studies on AFCTNT energy absorbers were also carried out, and the specific energy absorption of nested tubes and aluminium foam were obtained to further reveal their energy absorption performances. Experimental results indicated that the deformation modes of AFCTNT energy absorbers were evidently affected by the volume of aluminium foam filler. Moreover, the energy absorption performances of AFCTNT energy absorbers were found to be significantly improved by filling aluminium foam in terms of higher energy absorption, specific energy absorption, mean crushing force, and crushing force efficiency. Both experimental and numerical results demonstrated that the AFCTNT energy absorber with fully-filled aluminium foam outperformed the other AFCTNT energy absorbers owing to more significant interaction effect between the nested tubes and aluminium foam.
Energy absorption performance of a new circular–triangular nested tube and its application as sacrificial cladding
2020, Thin-Walled Structures
A circular–triangular nested tube (CTNT) was proposed for dissipating impact or blast energy. Experimental studies on CTNT energy absorbers under a lateral quasi-static crushing load were first conducted to reveal their deformation modes, force–displacement responses, and energy absorption performances. In addition, the influences of the circular-tube thickness and triangular-tube shape on the energy absorption performances of CTNTs were also discussed. A new energy absorption parameter, average curvature change (ACC), was proposed for evaluating the influence of geometry on the performance of an energy absorber that dissipates energy through changes in its curvature; further, the optimum geometric performance of the proposed CTNT energy absorbers was demonstrated based on a comparison with other nested energy absorbers reported in extant literature. The blast responses of the CTNT energy absorbers used as sacrificial claddings were numerically studied. The numerical results clearly presented the deformation modes, blast load mitigation, and energy absorption performances of the sacrificial claddings. The deformation mode of a CTNT energy absorber used as sacrificial cladding under blast loading was significantly different from that under quasi-static loading because the inertial effect and energy absorption capacity of the CTNT energy absorber increased as the weight of the trinitrotoluene (TNT) charge was increased. Moreover, the transmitted force was found to be reduced by 50.1%–74.3% on employing the CTNT energy absorber as sacrificial cladding, and the reduction magnitude decreased as the TNT charge weight was increased.
Shape and geometry design for self-locked energy absorption systems
2019, International Journal of Mechanical Sciences
Citation Excerpt :
Impact accidents cause great damage to lives and properties due to their strong destructiveness and weak predictability, and accordingly, energy absorption devices have drawn considerable attention [1–5]. Metallic thin-walled round tube system is one of the most widely used types of energy absorption device in impact protection due to its easy manufacturability, low cost and high specific energy absorption [6–11]. In recent years, researchers have transferred their attention to improving the performance of the round tube system by proposing new shape and geometry designs for tubes, including elliptical, rectangular and spherical shells [12–16].
The self-locked energy absorption system has been recently proposed to prevent the lateral splashing of thin-walled tubes under impact loadings without any constraints, which breaks through the limitation of round tube systems. To improve the energy absorption capacity and efficiency of the self-locked system, we explore eight new designs on the shape and geometry of the tubes, and investigate the deformed configurations and energy absorption performance of these models by compression experiments and FEM simulations. It is found that the ellipse- and pentagon- shaped enclosed self-lock models perform better if the tube is made of soft materials like resin, and the ellipse-shaped unenclosed self-lock model performs better if the tube is made of hard materials like steel. Furthermore, compared with the widely-used round tube system and the ordinary self-locked system, the system composed by the new-proposed self-lock tubes inherits the self-locking effect of ordinary self-lock tubes, and significantly improves the energy absorption properties. This work can provide guidelines for the design and application of the self-lock tube system in engineering applications.
On the crashworthiness performance of thin-walled energy absorbers: Recent advances and future developments
2017, Thin-Walled Structures
Citation Excerpt :
It was noticed that the crushing force increased as the angle of ‘V′ block decreased. Reid et al. [134] suggested a different method to enhance the energy absorbing of the laterally collapsed tube. They used tension members across the diameters of a tube to create a braced tube with the desired response.
Over the past several decades, a noticeable amount of research efforts has been directed to minimising injuries and death to people inside a structure that is subjected to an impact loading.
Thin-walled (TW) tubular components have been widely employed in energy absorbing structures to alleviate the detrimental effects of an impact loading during a collision event and thus enhance the crashworthiness performance of a structure.
Comprehensive knowledge of the material properties and the structural behaviour of various TW components under various loading conditions is essential for designing an effective energy absorbing system.
In this paper, based on a broad survey of the literature, a comprehensive overview of the recent developments in the area of crashworthiness performance of TW tubes is given with a special focus on the topics that emerged in the last ten years such as crashworthiness optimisation design and energy absorbing responses of unconventional TW components including multi-cells tubes, functionally graded thickness tubes and functionally graded foam filled tubes.
Due to the huge number of studies that analysed and assessed the energy absorption behaviour of various TW components, this paper presents only a review of the crashworthiness behaviour of the components that can be used in vehicles structures including hollow and foam-filled TW tubes under lateral, axial, oblique and bending loading.
Thin walled circular beams with sinusoidal embedded patterns under axial impacts
2016, Thin-Walled Structures
Citation Excerpt :
Reddy et al. [7–8] filled the circular tube with foam and wood and studied their behaviour under axial compression. Reid et al. [9–10] developed a structural plastic shock model for one dimensional ring systems and studied the performance of braced metal tubes. Carney III et al. [11] worked on stiffened metallic tubes and determined the performance characteristics experimentally.
Several recent developments have shown that introducing sinusoidal patterns on square section automotive crash absorber beams increased the energy absorption. This paper studies the behaviour of patterned circular tubes when used as crash absorbers. The effect of varying parameters of radial and longitudinal geometrical pattern frequency on internal energy absorption and energy absorption effectiveness factor is also studied in this work. Different types of patterns were simulated in axial impacts in which two geometrical pattern frequencies (radial and longitudinal) are multiplied. A numerical investigation was carried out using the commercially available LS-DYNA™ solver. The investigation was verified using existing analytical models. Results indicate that the circular sinusoidal patterned tubes behave better in energy absorption in axial impact. However, circular tubes have an altogether different collapse mode therefore the pattern formation has to be modified and optimized differently as compared to square beams. A new set of patterns named as CBC patterns is proposed in the study which increased the energy absorption of circular tubes significantly. An increase of about 36.86% in energy absorption is noted and energy absorbing efficiency factor is escalated from 2.23 to 3.05 in the best case. This research may further endorse the feasibility of using sinusoidal patterned tubes in mainstream engineering applications.
Quasi-static, impact and energy absorption of internally nested tubes subjected to lateral loading
2016, Thin-Walled Structures
This paper presents the responses of nested tube systems under quasi-static and dynamic lateral loading. Nested systems in the form of short internally stacked tubes were proposed as energy absorbing structures for applications that have limited crush zones. Three configurations of nested tube systems were experimentally analysed in this paper. The crush behaviour and energy absorbing responses of these systems under various loading conditions were presented and discussed. It was found that the quasi-static and dynamic responses of the nested systems were comparable under an experimental velocity of v=4.5 m/sec. This is due to insignificant strain rate and inertia effects of the nested systems under the applied velocity.
The performance indicators, which describe the effectiveness of energy absorbing systems, were calculated to compare the various nested systems and the best system was identified.
Furthermore, the effects of geometrical and loading parameters on the responses of the best nested tube system were explored via performing parametric analysis.
The parametric study was performed using validated finite element models. The outcome of this parametric study was full detailed design guidelines for such nested tube energy absorbing structures.

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Energy absorbing capacities of braced metal tubes

Abstract

Int. J. Mech. Sci.

Vehicle impact attenuation by modular crash cushion

In-service experience on installations of Texas modular crash cushions

Performance of the Hi-Dro cushion cell barrier vehicle-impact attenuator

Highway res. Record

Water-plastic crash attenuation system: test performance and model prediction

Highway Res. Record

Dynamic tests of an energy absorbing barrier employing sand-filled plastic barrels

Highway Res. Record

Feasibility of lightweight cellular concrete for vehicle crash cushions

Highway Res. Record

Evaluation of crash cushions constructed of lightweight cellular concrete

Highway Res. Record No. 386