Investigation of the effect of polymer and aluminum foams on the collapse behavior of double-walled thin-walled steel cone structures

So far, the effect of polymer and aluminum foams on the energy absorption capacity of double-walled conical shells subjected to oblique compressive loading has not been reported experimentally. In this paper, the amount of energy absorption of double thin-walled conical shells, filled with polymer foam and aluminum foam, have been experimentally studied under axial and oblique loading conditions. Also, the influence of some parameters such as the size of the conical shells, foam injection and the distance between the two walls were investigated. It was found that in the axial loading condition, there is no significant effect of the wall thickness on the energy absorption efficiency while filling tubes with the foam leads to the increase of energy absorption capacity without increasing of the maximum force. For the oblique loading conditions which were performed at a 45 degree angle, decreasing the thickness of the walls and filling tubes with the foams increase the capacity of the energy absorption.