Study on energy absorption capacity of thin-walled structures with variable cross-section shapes

The energy absorption (EA) capacity of the thin-walled structures with variable cross-section shape (VCS) under axial impact loading is investigated in this work, which plays an important role in the field of vehicle lightweight and crashworthiness designs. The accuracy of numerical models is validated by the experiments of corresponding VCS specimens. We investigate the influence of structural parameters (i.e. scaling of cross-section, ratio of width to height, thickness and cross-section shape) on the deformation mode and EA capacity of the VCS structures. A good agreement is observed by the comparison between simulation results and experimental ones, which proves the effectiveness of numerical models. Finally, we find that the permutation of appropriate parameters can significantly improve the collision EA capacity of the thin-walled structures. This work will have wild engineering applications in the field of crashworthiness design of car body structures.