Axial Crushing Behavior of Aluminum Square Tube with Origami Pattern

The study of axial crushing behavior is important in designing crashworthy structures especially in automotive applications. The axial crushing of thin-walled tube has better energy absorption capability. Thus, introducing milled geometrical shapes on thin-walled tube may improve the energy absorption performance. The improvement of the crush response is determined through the reduction of the Initial Peak Force (IPF) and the increase of the Specific Energy Absorption (SEA). This was done by employing origami pattern milled on the surface of thin-walled square tube which was investigated experimentally and numerically. The material used for the tube was aluminum alloy 6063-T5. The simulation results were validated by experiments which were conducted using Instron 3382 Universal Testing Machine and Instron Dynatup 8250 Drop Hammer Machine. The numerical simulation then progressed by varying parameters such as dimensions and configurations of the origami pattern on the square tube. ABAQUS finite element (FE) software was used to conduct the numerical simulation. The result of employing the origami square pattern on square tube is expected to improve the crush response by lowering the IPF and increasing the SEA. The obtained results were then compared with the conventional square tube where the origami pattern on square tube enhanced the crush performance.