Collapse behavior of thin-walled conical tube clamped at both ends subjected to axial and oblique loads

The structures of the vehicles during the crushing processes or accidents not only experience direct or axial collisions but sometime these structures are crushed off-axially. Therefore, it is very crucial to study whether or not a foam-filled tube is capable of supporting the oblique compression forces efficiently and effectively. In this paper, investigation of the axial and oblique loading collapse behavior of thin-walled conical tube clamped at both ends is presented. Several numerical simulations using ABAQUS finite element explicit code are carried out to study crashworthiness characteristics of empty and foam-filled thin-walled conical tubes clamped at both ends. In order to verify these numerical results, a series of quasi-static axial and oblique compression tests are performed. The validated finite element model was then used for the parametric studies, in order to determine the effect of the empty and filler tube geometry parameters (i.e. semi-apical angle) and loading parameters (i.e. load angle) on the energy absorption and mean crushing load. The primary outcome of this study is to provide information for the use of foam-filled conical tubes as energy absorbers where oblique loading is expected.