Numerical and experimental investigation of corrugated tubes under lateral compression

As a common type of energy absorbers, thin-walled structures have been extensively used in crashworthiness application in many industries. The goal of this research is the optimisation of the crushing parameters of corrugated tubes in terms of the number and shape of corrugations. Six different configurations were experimentally investigated; one refers to the straight tube without configurations and the others to corrugated tubes with different geometrical parameters. First, lateral compression tests were carried out and the experimental results were used to validate the finite element models. Other six different configurations of corrugated tubes were analysed by means of finite element simulations. The obtained results demonstrate the advantage of the corrugated tubes with respect to the straight tube in terms of the total absorbed energy and the crushing load. Moreover, the geometrical shape of corrugation (i.e. the ratio of corrugation base to its depth) plays an important role in enhancing the efficiency of the corrugated tubes.