Numerical crushing analysis of aluminum foam-filled corrugated single- and double-circular tubes subjected to axial impact loading

• Al foam filling was applied to corrugated single- and double-tubes numerically.
• Corrugation leads concertina mode of deformation in empty and foam-filled tubes.
• SEA of foam-filled corrugated double-tubes was found to be the highest.
• SEA of foam-filled double-tubes increased with increasing inner tube radius.

In this paper, aluminum foam-filling method was applied to corrugated tubes numerically, offering a novel structure that may have excellent energy absorption capacity. The study aims to provide a comparative study on the crushing responses of aluminum foam-filled corrugated single- and double-tubes with different corrugation lengths. The effects of geometric parameters like radius and wall thickness of inner tube in double-tubes on the energy absorption were also discussed. Dynamic crushing simulations were performed on finite element software LS-DYNA at impact velocity of 16.7 m/s (corresponding to 60 km/h). The comparisons revealed that tubes with corrugations experienced progressive and concertina type of deformation and tubes with smaller corrugation length showed smooth force–displacement curve with low initial peak force. SEA of foam-filled corrugated double-tubes was found to be superior to foam-filled straight tubes.