Crashworthiness of Multicellular Tubes under Axial Compression Based on Polygonal Origami Folding

Abstract

Inspired by the origami process, a multicellular tube formed by origami folding based on polygons was designed. First, the accuracy of the finite-element model was verified by experiments; then, under the conditions of the same wall thickness, mass, and energy absorption, comparative studies were carried out between multicellular tubes based on polygonal origami folding (MTPOFs), hollow tubes (HTs), and multicellular tubes (MTs). The results showed that regardless of the same wall thickness or the same mass and energy absorption conditions, MTPOFs have advantages over corresponding MTs and HTs. The crushing force efficiency and specific energy absorption of the square MTPOF were 131.45% and 193.57% higher than those of the square HT with the same wall thickness, respectively. Compared with the hexagonal HT, the crushing force efficiency and specific energy absorption of the hexagonal MTPOF increased by 99.02% and 125.01%, respectively. Under the same energy absorption, the crushing force efficiency of the square MTPOF improved by 78.78% and the specific energy absorption improved by 42.05% compared with the square HT. Ultimately, an investigation was conducted into the energy absorption of the structure concerning variations in wall thickness and the ratio of side length to height H/a. As a result, deformation mode diagrams corresponding to different H/a values were obtained.