Finite element analysis of crushing of thin-walled structures

Abstract

In today’s context, thin-walled structures are widely used in many applications. These thin-walled structures usually fail due to the buckling of the shell. As such, it is of the utmost importance for these structures to be strong enough and able to perform its intended function with a relatively reasonable reliability. Hence, to improve the thin-walled structure’s capability to withstand a greater loading force, a compliant core was adopted.

Previous studies have shown that thin-walled structures with a compliant core incorporated in them are considered to be more capable in the absorbing of energy under compressive loading as compared to the hollow equivalent counterparts (i.e. empty structures); thereby allowing them to outperformed the latter.

However, the use of such material would inevitably lead to a higher weight and cost. Therefore, in order to reduce the weight and cost of the structure and to understand their response under compressive loading for an efficient and safe design, this project serves to investigate the effects on the strength of the structures when cut-outs are created on the core material. Parametric studies will then be carried out to examined the amount of core being used in these structures by varying the dimensions of the cut-outs, the thickness of the core material to be incorporated in the structure and the effects of the material’s properties like Young’s modulus on the structure’s performance.

This analysis will be carried out using the approach of the finite element analysis of the ABAQUS/CAE software to analyse the crushing behaviour of the structures created. This method will be based on the series of folding wave patterns obtained from the results. The results obtained highlighted the advantage of using the compliant core in the structures as the amount of core material available would lead to a better performance and also the advantages of using a higher Young’s modulus as for the shell structure.