Crashworthiness performance of corrugation- reinforced multicell tubular structures

Improving the crashworthiness performance of thin-walled tubes is of vital significance for vehicle safety because thin-walled tubes are the most common and economical energy absorption structures. To this end, a new structural design method combining multicorrugation and multicell configurations was proposed in this study. Triangular, circular and square corrugation reinforced multicell tubes (CRMTs) were designed with this method. Finite element simulation validated by quasi-static compression experiments was adopted to investigate the crashworthiness performances of the CRMTs. The integrated entropy TOPSIS method was used to select the best of the proposed tubes. The results showed that the circular CRMT with a 3-order cell number (C-C-3) performed the best of the proposed CRMTs. Then, multiobjective optimization incorporating the integrated entropy TOPSIS method was conducted to search for the optimum geometric parameters of C-C-3. After optimization, the SEA increased by 2.39% and the CFE increased by 7.69%. In conclusion, the design combining the multicorrugation and multicell configurations can dramatically improve the crashworthiness of thin-walled tubes; therefore, the proposed structures can be used for energy absorption in the automobile and train industries.

Automated summary

The proposed design combining multicorrugation and multicell configurations significantly improves the crashworthiness of thin-walled tubes, with the circular CRMT with a 3-order cell number (C-C-3) identified as the best performer. Multiobjective optimization further enhanced its energy absorption capabilities.