Numerical investigation of compressive behaviour of luffa-filled tubes

The behaviour of luffa and luffa-filled tubes under uniaxial compression was investigated numerically using finite element analysis (FEA) and analytically by theoretical models. The FEA models were validated against experimental data. Parametric study was carried out using the validated FEA models to examine the effects of the density of luffa, the thickness to diameter ratio of tube and the cross-sectional topology of luffa core. It was found that the optimal density of the luffa as filler for the luffa-filled tubes was closely related to the optimal density of the luffa sponge. It increased with the increase of the thickness to diameter ratio of the tube. The cross-sectional topology of the filler material had a negligible effect on the specific energy absorption per unit mass even when the deformation pattern of the luffa-filled tube was changed from the diamond mode to the concertina one.