Effects of Temperature on Axial Crushing Behavior of Circular Multi-Walled Tubes

Abstract

In this work, the impact of temperature on the crushing performance of multi-walled tube (MWT) were investigated using a combined experimental, theoretical and numerical method. The MWT was fabricated using extrusion technology, and the temperature-dependent axial crushing experiment was performed on a hydraulic testing machine. The results show that the peak crushing force (PCF), the mean force (Pm) and the specific energy absorption (SEA) decreased near-linearly by 21.7%, 30.7% and 30.7% as the temperature increased from 25 °C to 250 °C, while the crushing load efficiency (CLE) was insensitive to temperature. The average forces obtained via numerical prediction, theoretical analysis and experimental testing were basically consistent. The numerical results indicate that varied temperature alters the number of dominant wavelets and the relative lateral deflections of MWT. In addition, compared with the competitive structures, the energy absorption property of MWT is excellent at high temperatures.

Keywords

• multi-walled tube
• crushing performance
• elevated temperature
• energy absorption