Axial crushing analysis of empty and foam-filled brass bitubular cylinder tubes

•Determining the crush performance of bitubular tubes experimentally and numerically.•Investigation of the effect of the bitubular tubes geometry and loading parameters.•Investigation of the dynamic effect of the bitubular tubes.

To reduce loss from collision, energy absorbers are used which dissipate energy upon deformation and folding in order to prevent damage to critical parts of a structure. In this study, the empty and polyurethane foam-filled bitubular tubes made from brass with circular section were subjected to quasi-static axial compression loading. Nonlinear dynamic finite element analyses are carried out to investigate the details concerning crushing process by using explicit finite element code ABAQUS. Satisfactory agreements are achieved between the finite element and the experimental results. The validated finite element model was then used for the parametric studies, in order to determine the effect of the empty and filler tube geometry parameters (i.e. wall thickness, semi-apical angle) and loading parameters (i.e. impact mass, impact velocity) on the Dynamic Amplification Factor. The results highlight the advantages of using the brass bitubular circular tubes as energy absorber.