Analysis of circular tubes with rectangular multi-cell insert under oblique impact loads

• Analysis of circular tubes with multi-cell insert under oblique loads.
• An analytical solution for the evaluation of the crushing force is proposed.
• Analysis of buckling and bending behaviour of the structure.
• The proposed model can be applied to evaluate structures under oblique impact.

The present paper is focused on the analysis of the collapse mode of circular tubes with multi-cell insert under oblique loads. The material assigned to the structures is AA6061-O thus the material strain rate sensitivity can be neglected. An analytical solution for the evaluation of the crushing force is proposed. Results obtained from extensive numerical simulation were used in order to validate the analytical solution. The analysis of buckling and bending behaviour of the structure gives an estimate of the load that produces the collapse of the structure. This set of analytical equations can used to predict the behaviour of the structure under oblique load. Results obtained from the numerical simulation are compared with the results of the parametric analysis in order to validate the procedure. In case of designing structures starting from the capable load, the available configurations were investigated using the set of analytical equations. A good agreement was found between the analytical results and numerical simulations. The proposed model can be applied to evaluate structures under oblique impact as the analytical equations can be easily solved providing a start for the investigation of these complex structures.