Axial crushing behavior and energy absorption efficiency of corrugated tubes

This paper presents the effect of corrugations on the crushing behavior, energy absorption, and failure mode of circular aluminum tubes. Experimental investigations were carried out on five geometrical types of corrugated and simple tubes, with corrugations different in size and direction, subjected to axial compressive loading. In order to produce corrugations, an innovative solution is introduced. The results show that tubes with corrugations have a uniform load-displacement curve without an initial peak load. Moreover, introducing corrugations makes the failure mode more predictable and controllable. The latter is highly promising and of foremost interest to designers, as it is essential for reliable design of energy absorbers in practice. The experimental results show the significant effect of the presented corrugated tubes on improving the crashworthiness characteristics, controllability and collapse modes of circular tubes under axial loading. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.