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Crush behaviour of foam-filled thin-walled conical frusta: analytical, numerical and experimental studies

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Abstract

This paper is concerned with a detailed study of the crush behaviour of foam-filled conical frusta using numerical, analytical and experimental techniques. Finite element models of thin-walled frusta with and without metallic foam filler are developed to simulate their progressive collapse behaviour under axial crush loads. The finite element results are compared with a kinematically admissible analytical model developed earlier by the authors as well as experimentally using crush tests. The effect of key design parameters such as taper angle, slenderness ratio, and foam filling are carefully examined and discussed. The results show that introducing a taper angle in a straight column helps to reduce the initial crippling load and increases the resistance to global buckling. Besides, the filling of the metallic foam further increases the specific energy absorption efficiency. This is due to the densification of the filler foam and the reduction of the plastic fold length. This work is intended to provide guidelines for the design of thin-walled metallic energy absorbers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanics and Aerospace Design Laboratory, University of Toronto, 5 King’s College Rd, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G8, Canada

    S. A. Meguid & P. Hou

  2. School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Rd, Shanghai, 200092, China

    F. Yang

Authors
  1. S. A. Meguid
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  2. F. Yang
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  3. P. Hou
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Correspondence to S. A. Meguid.

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Meguid, S.A., Yang, F. & Hou, P. Crush behaviour of foam-filled thin-walled conical frusta: analytical, numerical and experimental studies. Acta Mech 227, 3391–3406 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-016-1662-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-016-1662-x

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