Study on energy absorption capacity of thin-walled structures with variable cross-section shapes

ABSTRACT

The energy absorption (EA) capacity of the thin-walled structures with variable cross-section shape (VCS) under axial impact loading is investigated in this work, which plays an important role in the field of vehicle lightweight and crashworthiness designs. The accuracy of numerical models is validated by the experiments of corresponding VCS specimens. We investigate the influence of structural parameters (i.e. scaling of cross-section, ratio of width to height, thickness and cross-section shape) on the deformation mode and EA capacity of the VCS structures. A good agreement is observed by the comparison between simulation results and experimental ones, which proves the effectiveness of numerical models. Finally, we find that the permutation of appropriate parameters can significantly improve the collision EA capacity of the thin-walled structures. This work will have wild engineering applications in the field of crashworthiness design of car body structures.

KEYWORDS:

• Thin-walled structure
• VCS
• energy absorption
• crashworthiness
• finite element analysis

Highlights

• VCS thin-walled structure has better EA capacity and deformation mode which can greatly improve IPF and SEA with appropriate scaling factor of cross section between 0.4 and 1.0.

• For a specific VCS thin-walled structure, many parameters including IPF, mass, thickness t, different cross-section shapes, the scaling of cross section α, the ratio of width to height λ must be comprehensively considered in which the optimise material thickness can achieve better crashworthiness.

• The cross-section shape has an excellent influence on the collision EA capacity of the VCS thin-walled structure. The collision EA capacity of the VCS thin-walled structure can be significantly improved in the ways of optimising cross-section shape, increasing the number of folding units and the angle between adjacent edges.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (51805221), Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Fund (2018K018C) and Scientific Research Grant of Jiangsu University (No.17JD037). This work was supported by the high performance computing platform of Jiangsu University.

Data Availability Statement

The raw or processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time due to both legal reasons and time limitations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds [2018K018C]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [51805221]; and Senior Talent Foundation of Jiangsu University [17JDG037].

Notes on contributors

Libin Duan

Libin Duan was born in lvliang, shanxi province, China in 1987. He received PhD degree in Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, China, in 2017. Now he works at School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, China. His research interests include new energy vehicle crash safety and lightweight design, new energy vehicle battery packs and seat systems development, new energy vehicle intelligent design and software development, advanced testing techniques for multi-materials and structures.

Wanzhen Hong

Wanzhen Hong was born in Jinjiang, Fujian province, China in 2000. She will receive bachelor degree in Vehicle Engineering, School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, China, in June, 2022. Now she is going to work at SAIC Motor Corporation Limited Passenger Vehicle Branch.

Wei Xu

Wei Xu was born in Jinan, shandong province, China in 1982. He received Postdoc degree in School of Mechanical Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan, in 2016. Now he works at School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, China. His research interests include computational mechanics on the combined discrete and finite elements method of analyzing the impact fracture of laminated glass.

Zhanpeng Du

Zhanpeng Du was born in Xuancheng, Anhui province, China in 1992. He received PhD degree in Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, China, in 2022. Now he works at School of Automotive and Traffic Engineering, Jiangsu University, China. His research interests include vehicle crash safety and lightweight design, advanced connection techniques for multi-materials vehicle.

Lei Shi

Lei Shi was born in shandong province, China in 1975. He received PhD degree in School of Materials Materials Processing Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 1998. Now he works at Research Institute, Baoshan Iron&Steeel CO.,Ltd Shanghai P.R China and he is a chief in State Key Laboratory of Development and Application Technology of Automotive Steels(BaoSteel), Shanghai P.R, China.