Some problems on the axial crushing of multi-cells

• The axial crushing of a type of quadruple cells was studied experimentally.
• Numerical model was validated by experiment and employed for parametric study.
• Influence of geometric compatibility, trigger and structural parameter was analyzed.
• Theoretical analysis for crush resistance of the quadruple cells was performed.
• Theoretical predictions compared well with experimental and numerical results.

Multi-cell structures are highly efficient energy absorber under axial crushing. The present work aimed to resolve some problems concerned with energy absorption of a type of quadruple cells. These problems include influence of geometric compatibility among elements, type of trigger, structural parameter or topology change on crush resistance of the structure. Experimental study was conducted first and numerical simulation was then carried out by using commercial explicit finite element code. Theoretical prediction for the mean crushing force of the quadruple cells was also performed by the existing theoretical models. The results showed that when the structural parameter in the section was varied, the geometric compatibility problem became severe if the discrepancy of folding wavelength among constituent elements was large. However, it generally had limited influence on crush resistance of the multi-cell structure and the existing theoretical models can still predict the crush resistance of the section with good accuracy.