Design of Euplectella aspergillum based bionic thin tubes for impact absorbing application under different loading conditions

Abstract

In this study, Euplectella aspergillum based thin tubes is modeled to increase the energy absorption performance. Two bio-inspired lattice structures are incorporated into the circular cross-section thin tubes. The study aims to obtain shorter wave folding and reduce the difference between peak crushing force (PCF) and mean crushing force (MCF). The modeled tubes have multi-cellular thin walls and lattice sandwich thin walls. All the tubes are tested under high-impact axial and varying oblique loading cases using finite element modeling (FEM). The study shows mainly local buckling behavior with the number of folding, fluctuation in energy absorption, and axisymmetric deformation dependent on the length, height of the unit cells, and type of loading. A parametric study shows the possibility of engineering the crashworthiness based on the unit cell design parameters. Furthermore, the experimental validation of the FEM results is carried out with the selective laser melting (SLM) process fabricated bionic tubes of Al–Si10–Mg alloy. The FEM and experimental results showed good agreement. Bionic tubes offer potential applications in advanced automobile crash boxes and lightweight structure designs.

Keywords

• Bio-inspired structure
• Lattice structure
• Energy absorption
• Impact absorption
• Bionic tube