Welcome to Journal of Automotive Safety and Energy,
汽车安全与节能学报

Journal of Automotive Safety and Energy ›› 2016, Vol. 07 ›› Issue (01): 35-48.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8484.2016.01.004

• Automotive Safety • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Crashworthiness of Functionally Graded Density Aluminum Foam-Filled Tapered Thin-Walled Structures

CAO Jiao 1, Amir KHAJEPOUR 1,2, GAN Nianfei 1, LONG Yongcheng 1, HUANG Jing 1   

  1. 1. College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China;
    2. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L3G1, Canada
  • Received:2015-04-03 Online:2016-03-25 Published:2016-04-05
  • Contact: 通讯作者 / Corresponding author ： Amir KHAJEPOUR（1962—），男，教授。E-mail: akhajepour@uwaterloo.ca
  • About author:第一作者 / First author ： 曹娇（1990—），女（汉），湖南，硕士研究生。E-mail: caojiao_hnu@163.com 通讯作者 / Corresponding author ： Amir KHAJEPOUR（1962—），男，教授。E-mail: akhajepour@uwaterloo.ca

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Abstract:

Comparative tests of uni-axial quasi-static compressive loading and numerical simulation analysis
were performed for functionally graded aluminum foam tapers, hollow tubes, and foam-filled tapers to utilize
this aluminum foam filled tapered sections of a vehicle crash-box. Practical conclusions on simulations of foam
density increase of functionally graded aluminum foam and interface fit of aluminum foam-filled structures are
presented. By comparing the deformation patterns, load vs. displacement curves, and absorbed energy (AE)
and specific absorbed energy (SAE) of the samples, the conclusions are obtained that the aluminum foam
cross-section shape of tapered aluminum foam filler and the foam-filled structures have limited influence on the
energy absorbing capacity under quasi-static uni-axial compression; and the energy absorbing capacity of an
aluminum foam-filled tapered section is greater than the combined energy capacity of individual aluminum foam
filler and thin-walled tapered section.

Key words: vehicle material, crashworthiness, functionally graded density aluminum foam, tapered foam-filled thin-walled tube, experimental and numerical study