| The finite element code, LS-DYNA, was used to investigate the energy dissipation characteristics of AA6060-T4 aluminium alloy extruded tubes with varying polygonal (i.e., hexagonal and octagonal) cross sections subjected to axial impacts. The research study was conducted in two phases. The first phase comprised of validating the finite element model parameters and numerical results of thin-walled aluminium extruded square tubes with actual published experimental data. The mean dynamic axial crushing force value was predicted within +/- 3%, and in the case of the permanent axial displacement, the accuracy was within +/- 5%, when compared to the published experimental results. The second phase results of the numerical simulations pertaining to the hexagonal and octagonal tube sections were compared to the benchmark results established for the square section tubes. The numerical simulation results for the hexagonal section tube revealed a minimum average increase in the mean dynamic axial crushing force and permanent displacement parameters of 10% and 11%, respectively, over the baseline square tube sections. The octagonal tube section showed a minimum average increase in the mean axial crushing force and permanent displacement parameters of 25% and 20%, respectively. |
