Buckling and energy absorption properties of thin-walled corrugated tubes under axial impacting

The square tube with pre-designed corrugations shape is presented and the folding angles formula of the corrugated tubes is established in this study base on geometrical relationship.Buckling modes and energy absorption of square tube and six kinds of corrugated tubes under axial impacting are compared and analyzed by LS-DYNA.The simulation result shows that deformation of tubes can be divided into three stages, including the initial peak stage, the stable progress buckling stage and the densification stage.The folding angle is one of important influence factors on the initial peak force and mean force.The pre-designed corrugations demonstrate some obvious advantages at reducing initial peak force and the fluctuation range of impact force curves which are smoother than the square tube.In addition, the specific energy absorption of the corrugated tubes are lower than the square tube, while the crush force efficiency and specific total efficiency of corrugated tube with a certain folding angle are higher than those of the square tube.