Crushing and theoretical analysis of multi-cell thin-walled triangular tubes under lateral loading

This paper investigates the lateral crushing behavior of multi-cell thin-walled triangular tubes using experiments. More crushing modes are found in the lateral compression experiments of the multi-cell triangular tubes. The average crushing force, Pa, is governed by the plastic hinge lines. Based on experiments and the improved simplified super folding element (ISSFE) theory, theoretical models are proposed to predict average crushing force (Pa) in each stage. The formula of Pa is a function of flow stress of material, wall thickness, and length of tube. The results show that the theoretical solutions agree well with the experiment data.