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Crashworthiness design of bionic-shell thin-walled tube under axial impact

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Abstract

Bionic structures have been widely utilized in the crashworthiness design of thin-walled structures due to their superior energy absorption capabilities. This study constructed a bionic-shell thin-walled tube (BST) with excellent crashworthiness based on the structural bionic principle using the shell shape cross-section as the prototype. First, the theoretical model of the mean crushing force (MCF) for BST under axial compression was developed. An experiment was conducted and the reliability of the finite element model was verified. Then, the effects of structural parameters, such as the number of ribs, wall thickness, and inner tube diameter on the crashworthiness of the BST were investigated using the finite element method. Finally, to obtain the ideal configuration of structural parameters, the BST was optimized using the response surface method (RSM) with specific energy absorption (SEA) and crushing force efficiency (CFE) as the optimization objectives and peak crushing force (PCF) as the constraint condition. The results showed that the BST with six ribs exhibited the best crashworthiness under the same mass. The optimized BST-6 was found to have better energy absorption performance than the double circular tube (DCT) and the bionic-horsetail thin-walled tube (BHT). Compared with the DCT, the SEA and CFE increased by 35.15 % and 32.23 %, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundamental Strengthening Program of the Central Military Commission Technical Filed Foundation of China (Grant No. 2021-JCJQ-JJ-1309), the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2021RC4038) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Grant No. 2020JJ4026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Lingyun Qin, Shuyi Yang, Hongzhou Li, Juchuan Dai, Guosheng Wang, Qihui Ling & Zhewu Chen

  2. China North Vehicle Research Institute, Beijing, 100072, China

    Guosheng Wang

Authors
  1. Lingyun Qin
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  2. Shuyi Yang
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  3. Hongzhou Li
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  4. Juchuan Dai
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  5. Guosheng Wang
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  6. Qihui Ling
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  7. Zhewu Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shuyi Yang.

Additional information

Lingyun Qin is currently a Ph.D. student in School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China. He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Hunan University of Science and Technology in 2020. His research interests include mechanical dynamics, structural design, and optimization.

Shuyi Yang is currently a Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China. She received her Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from China University of Mining and Technology in 2009. Her research interests include mechanical dynamics, engineering testing, and signal processing.

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Qin, L., Yang, S., Li, H. et al. Crashworthiness design of bionic-shell thin-walled tube under axial impact. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 3427–3436 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0608-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0608-1

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