Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6778022 | Thin-Walled Structures | 2018 | 13 Pages |
Abstract
This study introduces an energy absorbing structure called a variable thickness structure (VTS) inspired by the gradient of thickness and the inter-nodal distance along the growth direction of bamboo. A series of VTSs under axial impact load were investigated to study the influence of the bionic factors on the energy absorption through a simulation analysis. It was determined that the wall thickness ratio and inter-nodal length ratio of a VTS have a significant effect on the crashworthiness of the structure. In order to obtain an optimal VTS, these factors were optimized through a multi-objective optimization method and polynomial regression (PR) meta-model. We found that the crashworthiness of some VTSs are better than that of a circular tube. In addition, a VTS with an inter-nodal length ratio of 1/2/1 and wall thickness of 3/2.47/1.78Â mm was shown to be the optimal structure. A comparison between the optimal VTS and circular tube showed that the specific energy absorption of the VTS increased by 6.2%, whereas the peak crushing force showed a 28.23% decrease. Moreover, the crushing force efficiency increased by 7.48%, the mass decreased by 19.3%, and the VTS deformed more stably in terms of the overall crashing behaviours or collapse modes.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Engineering
Civil and Structural Engineering
Authors
Jia Feng Song, Shu Cai Xu, Hui Xia Wang, Xue Qiao Wu, Meng Zou,