Effect of taper angle on crashworthiness performance in hybrid tubes

The present paper dealt with the finite element analysis (FE) analyzing the taper angle design of aluminum/E-glass fiber reinforced polymer hybrid tubes. This study investigated the crushing characteristics involving peak crush force (PCF), crush force efficiency (CFE) and specific energy absorption (SEA) capacity of thirty different configurations of hybrid tubes. Three types of geometries were studied numerically, including circular, square and hexagonal. The structures evaluated included circular hybrid tubes fabricated with aluminum alloy and composite. The hybrid structures were subjected to axial impact loads using a 750-kg rigid impactor with an initial velocity of 15 m/s. It was found that the crashworthiness performance increased with increasing taper angle. The SEA and CFE values of the circular hybrid tube with a 10° taper angle were high in the other square and hexagonal hybrid tubes. That hybrid structure can preferable as impact energy absorber due to the ability to withstand axial impact loads effectively.