Origami Crash Boxes Subjected to Dynamic Oblique Loading

Abstract

The energy absorption capacity of origami crash boxes (OCB) subjected to oblique loading is investigated in the present study. A conventional square tube (CST) with identical weight is employed as benchmark. The comparative study reveals that the origami crash box is more desirable than the conventional square tube in most of the range of load angle. A parameter study is performed to assess the effect of geometry parameters on the energy absorption characteristics. The geometry parameters are tube length L, tube width b, module length l, and width of folded lobe c. Considering that bamboo with large slenderness ratio could effectively resist wind load, a bulkhead-reinforced origami crash box is proposed as a high-performance energy absorption device. And an optimum structure designed based on the parameter study is investigated. The result suggests that the proposed tube performs much better than the original design.