A study on nested two-tube structures subjected to lateral crushing

The paper studies on experimental and theoretical investigations into the crushing response of the nested rectangular-square tube structures under lateral loading. Lateral crushing behavior of these nested tube structures is described in this work. The effect of peak crushing load on mean crushing load is pointed out for each nested tube structure. The theoretical formula is proposed based on the simple superposition principle and the modification of the simplified super folding element theory. The mean crushing load depends on the length of the plastic hinge line, wall thickness, and flow stress of material. The value of the mean crushing load obtained from calculation is compared with the results of the tests, resulting in good agreement with acceptable errors.