Energy absorption improvement of circular tubes with externally press-fitted ring around tube surface subjected under axial and oblique impact loading

The dynamic axial and oblique crushing of circular tubes with externally press-fitted ring around the outer tube surface was investigated numerically using the Abaqus/explicit finite element simulation tool. The study shows how the reinforcement of ring strips fitted around the tube surface have the potential of improving the energy absorption capacity. Crashworthiness parameters such as the mean and peak crushing force, Crush Force Efficiency and specific energy absorption were evaluated for different tube profiles. Effect of slenderness ratio and tube thickness on the collapsed mode and crashworthiness parameters were examined by increasing the number of rings around the tube surface with different ring thicknesses. New collapsed modes were obtained as the ringed circular steel tubes were subjected to dynamic axial and oblique compression. The results obtained from the ringed tubes showed a reasonable percentage increase in the total energy absorption as compared to the conventional circular tubes without rings.