Energy absorption characteristics of a foam-filled tri-tube under axial quasi-static loading: experiment and numerical simulation

The circular tube is one of the most widely used energy absorbers in structure crashworthiness. To improve the energy absorption performance of the said tube, a foam-filled tri-tube is proposed. Axial quasi-static crushing experiments are conducted to investigate the energy absorption characteristics of the foam-filled tri-tube. Other tube configurations, such as empty single tubes, foam-filled single tubes, empty double tubes, foam-filled double tubes and empty tri-tubes, are also tested for comparison with the foam-filled tri-tube. Results show that the foam-filled tri-tube has better energy absorption performance than other tubes. A finite element model is developed to perform a parametric study on the effect of tube diameter, wall thickness and foam density on the energy absorption characteristics of the foam-filled tri-tube. The results show that parameters, such as outer tube diameter, wall thickness and foam density, have significant influence on the energy absorption characteristics of the foam-filled tri-tube, whereas the inner tube diameter has less influence.