Frontal Crash Worthiness Performance of Bi-Tubular Corrugated Conical: Structures under Axial Loads at Low Velocity

Vehicle collisions are a major concern in the modern automotive industry. To ensure the passenger safety, major focus has been given on energy absorption pattern on the crumple zone during collision, which lead to the implementation of new design of the crash box for low speed collision. The main aim of this research is optimization of the conical shaped structure based on its mean diameter, graded thickness and semi apical angle. Further, to decrease initial peak load of the conical crash box, corrugations are integrated on structure and optimized based on different parameters, such as number of corrugations, pattern of corrugation relative to both tubes and amplitude of corrugation. The concept of bi-tubular structure is proposed to improve both specific energy absorption and initial peak load during crash event. A finite element model is created to perform parametric study on corrugated conical tube based on axial load conditions at low velocity. Optimization to maximize total absorbed energy and minimize peak impact load on the crash box within constraints is conducted. The result showed that design of proposed crash box effectively performs as energy absorbing structure and can be used in the future vehicle body.