Numerical Crashworthiness Investigation of Multi-Section Tubes

The present research work investigates the crashworthiness performance of multi-section tubes with the square cross section at one end and circle at the other end (MTSC). The results were compared with their counterparts such as normal square (USS) and circular (USC) tubes of uniform cross section. In this study, the MTSC, USS and USC are designed to have the same height and thickness. Three different aluminium alloys namely AA6060-T6, AA6061-T6 and AA6063-T6 were chosen for initial investigation. ABAQUS software code was used to predict the performance parameters such as initial peak force (IPF) and specific energy absorption capacity (SEA) under quasi static loading conditions. Mesh sensitivity study has also been performed to improve the accuracy of numerical results. The results evidenced that the multi-section tubes have better energy absorption capacity compared to the normal square and circular tubes.