Design and optimization of a corrugated tubular shell structure based on triply periodic minimal surface

A novel corrugated tubular shell structure based on triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) was proposed in this study. The initial diamond tubular thin-walled structure (D-TTS) and corrugated tubular thin-walled structures (C-TTS) model were designed and then fabricated using selective laser melting (SLM). The 3D-printed model deviation distribution was obtained by using computed tomography (CT) scanning. Compressive behaviors and energy absorption capacity of the tubular thin-walled structures were investigated using experimental and numerical methods. To obtain optimal designs of C-TTS, a surrogate model was established and multi-objective optimization was carried out. The maximal specific energy absorption (SEA) and the minimal peak crushing force (PCF) were obtained by non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II). Compared with the initial DTTS, maximal SEA is increased by 9.34%, and the minimal PCF is reduced by 58.96%. This structure enhances the diversity of tubular structure designs while also inspiring innovative approaches for developing energy absorption devices and structures utilizing TPMS.