A new method to investigate the energy absorption characteristics of thin-walled metal circular tube using finite element analysis

• A new method to investigate the energy absorption law of thin-walled metal circular tube using finite element analysis.
• A numerical study is made to investigate the energy absorbing law of thin tube made of three different materials(steel, copper, aluminum) by using response surface methodology (RSM).
• The application prospect of RSM in terms of the research on the energy absorption rules of energy absorption structure can be explored.
• RSM is an advanced experiment design method, and it can be widely used in the research on the energy absorption law of thin-walled metal circular tube.
• RSM has a promising application prospect in the development of new energy absorbing material and structure.

A numerical study is made to investigate the energy absorbing rule of thin-walled metal circular tube made of three different materials (steel, copper, aluminum) by using response surface methodology (RSM). At the same time, the application prospect of RSM in terms of the research on the energy absorption rule of energy absorption structure can be explored. The test result shows that, the compression process of thin-walled metal circular tube can be divided into three stages: elastic stage, yielding plateau stage, compact stage; To get the greatest value of average plateau force (APF) , a tube with a shorter height and thicker wall should be adopted; To get the greatest length energy absorption (LEA), a tube with thicker wall should be adopted and the ratio of its height and diameter should be as big as possible; To get the greatest specific energy absorption (SEA), a tube with a thicker wall should be adopted and the ratio between its height and diameter should be as big as possible. Thus, it can be seen that, RSM is an advanced experiment design method, and it can be widely used in the research on the energy absorption characteristics of thin-walled metal circular tube and has a promising application prospect in the development of new energy absorbing material and structure.