Introducing a novel corrugated profile generated from tangential circular curves to increase energy absorption

Thin-walled tubes are widely used to absorb energy in road accidents. In this paper, a novel circumferentially corrugated tubes with a tangential circular profile is studied. The LS-Dyna finite element code is used to evaluate the crashworthiness. In order to verify the models and the solution method, the results are compared with the experimental results. These studies show that the simulation correctly predicts the behavior of the structure. These profiles are investigated under quasi-static, axial, lateral and oblique loads. Then, the results are compared with the results of the conventional square, circular and cellular square tubes. The results indicate that the present profiles under simultaneous axial and lateral loads, compared with the conventional cellular square tubes, increase the specific energy absorption and the crush force efficiency parameter by 26% and 10%, respectively. In addition, the results show that use of cross blades inside the corrugated profiles prevents the creation of a general deformation mode. Under lateral loading, compared with the conventional cellular square tubes, the amount of specific energy absorption is about 20% less, but the crushing force efficiency is significantly higher.