Optimization design in perforated AL-CFRP hybrid tubes under axial quasi-static loading

Induced structure has been widely used in thin-walled structures to reduce the initial peak crash force (PCF) and improve the crashworthiness. In this paper, the perforated aluminum-carbon fiber reinforced polymer thin-walled tube (AL-CFRP tube) was investigated to explore the design issue of the parameters of induced holes. For the purpose, firstly, a finite element model of perforated AL-CFRP tube was established and verified with experiments. Secondly, under the condition of single factor, the effects of different diameter, number and number of rows of induced holes on the AL-CFRP tube were studied respectively. Finally, the response surface method (RSM) was used to analyze the influence of the parameters of the induced holes on the total energy absorption (EA) and initial PCF values of perforated AL-CFRP tube. The non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) was used to seek the optimal combination of the parameters of induced holes. The results demonstrate that the induced holes structure can effectively improve the crashworthiness of AL-CFRP tube, when the parameters of induced holes are a row of holes with a diameter of 5 mm and a number of 4, the PCF can be reduced by 17.43% and the crush force efficiency (CFE) can be increased by 20% without weakening the total EA.

Automated summary

The study investigated the influence of induced hole parameters on the crashworthiness of perforated AL-CFRP tubes, finding that a structure with a row of holes with a diameter of 5 mm and a number of 4 can effectively improve the crashworthiness of the tube.