Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

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Thin-Walled Structures
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Full length article

Crashworthiness analysis of foam filled star shape polygon of thin-walled T

structure
Sahil Goyala, Anand C.S.a, Sunil Kumar Sharmaa,*, Rakesh Chandmal Sharmab,**
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amity School of Engineering and Technology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
b
Mechanical Engineering Department, Maharishi Markandeshwar (Deemed to be University), Mullana, Haryana, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This paper aims to fabricate star polygon thin walled energy absorption structure that tends to relapse the
Finite element intensity of set in decelerations during impact while escalating the amount of energy absorbed. The crash-
Specific energy absorption worthiness topology optimization is used for structural optimization of various foam-filled tubes. The relative
Peak crush force advantages of 14 configurations are discussed, and the effects of filling five types of foam into the best con-
Crashworthiness
figuration of the star-shaped tube over an empty one is investigated. Specific Energy Absorption, Peak Crush
Tube
Force and response of weight of the members during frontal impact are the main dimensions parameters of the
member's performance. Numerical simulation is carried out using the explicit dynamics of Ansys 17.1, and
obtained results are compared with experimental results conferring crash behavior and energy absorption
characteristics. Based on results, the suited configuration with required performance in crashworthiness is
suggested, which shall be incorporated in automobiles for safety consideration of passengers during an impact.
The results show an increment of 40% in Specific Energy Absorption suggesting a better choice of a particular
type of foam over a hollow tube.

1. Introduction from injuries as it has excellent energy absorbing capacity, lightweight

The prime cause for the greater number of motor vehicles on the
roads is the society's urbanization demands. This has contributed to the
uninterrupted increment in the number of motor vehicles. Due to the
increased number of vehicles, accidents and crashes are unavoidable or
inevitable; ergo, have gone to become a worldwide issue. Accidents are
unavoidable but what can be done is to make the occupants in the
vehicles as safe as possible. The kinetic energy involved in an accident
should be converted into different forms by the vehicular chassis or
frame; this ensures the protection and safety of the passengers in au-
tomobile and rail vehicle. The chassis/frame which is capable to
withstand the crash by absorbing and managing the force will in-turn
reduce the deaths count and injury risks of the travelers in the vehicle is
commonly referred to as crashworthiness [1,2]. Therefore, a crash-
worthy design became a major safety issue for the vehicles carrying
occupants. In order for the vehicle to have proper crashworthiness, a
stiff structure is required to resist both bending and torsion forces for
better passive safety of a vehicle. Energy-absorbing thin walled (TW)
tubes are utilised, fitted in the frontal part of the automobile between
bumper and frame. It helps in securing travelers as well as merchandise
and minimum effort in fabricating.
The impact energy absorbers in a vehicle’ structure consist of TW
components that can be deformed either axially (crushable columns
behind the bumper) or laterally (cross-beam of the bumper) or in
bending mode (B-pillar, doorsill beam, cross-beam of the bumper). The
axially collapsed TW components provide higher energy absorption
than those collapsed laterally or in bending. This is mainly due to the
fact that under axial loading most of the tube's volume reach the
plasticity limit and participate in the energy absorption process. The
energy absorbed by the axial collapse showed a significant dependence
on the tube geometries i.e. triangular [3], square [4], hexagonal [3],
circular [5,6] octagonal [7] and star shaped [8] and an absorber with
star shaped section was reported as the most efficient shape in many
studies [8].
Global bending, a form of deformation is seen in the axially loaded
tubes, which even after their amazing energy absorption routine is an
unwanted distortion mode. This can cause sudden reduction in the
entire capacity of energy absorption and is very unbalanced. As dis-
cussed before, the TW components that underwent axial loading
showed more energy absorption than via bending or laterally. The main

*
Corresponding author.
**
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: sksharma10@amity.edu (S.K. Sharma), drrcsharma@mmumullana.org (R.C. Sharma).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2019.106312
Received 15 January 2019; Received in revised form 16 June 2019; Accepted 10 July 2019
0263-8231/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Goyal, et al.
Abbreviations
FE Finite Element
PCF Peak crash force
FEM Finite Element Modelling
PF Peak force
SEA Specific Energy Absorption
EA Energy Absorption
MCF Mean Crushing Force
IPCF Initial Peak Crushing Force
reason for that is the development of the distortion modes which is
plastic bending; ergo, the plastic distortion is circumscribed to a re-
stricted volume of the material. Augmenting the crashworthiness of the
constituents can successfully and efficiently be done by the adjustment/
modification of the geometrical shape of the energy absorber [9].
A broad study of alternate configuration of tubes with thin walls
together with multiple cell constituents and functionally classified thick
tubes is conducted for their energy absorption applications.
Improvement of the energy absorption of TW tube by regulating the
angle elements' shape and number is the moto of the multiple cell
configuration. Increment in the amount of the material at positions that
are going through serious distortion and the opposite at less important
positions is the aim of the functionally classified thickness configuration
[3,9–11] so, tube material has better circulation of distribution. Su-
perior crashworthiness and higher energy absorption is displayed by
both TW constituents’ configurations. Nevertheless, expensive manu-
facturing and great peak crumple force are the reasons why multiple
cell tubes are not extensively used around the world [7].
Moreover, single and multi optimization formulation were used in
crashworthiness designs with many optimization algorithms such as
Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (GA-II) [3,4,12], Multi ob-
jective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) algorithm [6,13–15],
Genetic Algorithm (GA) [14] and so on [3,4,15,16]. On the other hand,
this approach is not fully suitable for crashworthiness because the re-
liable crashworthiness design requires considering all crashworthiness
responses simultaneously. In addition to modifying the shape of the TW
component, using a filler material in a TW tube is the classical route to
enhance its energy absorption performance [13,16–18]. The foam-filled
TW tubes absorb higher energy than empty tubes due to the interaction
effects between the filler material and the thin-walled tubes along with
the energy absorbed by the filler material itself.
From the studies, it is found that the still effects of impact after
accidents are very high. Increasing accidents lead to 5 deaths in every
10 min. Hence, an urgent need for an advanced design that can help in
enhancing the passive safety in automotive vehicles is requisite.
Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the crash behavior and
Fig. 1. FE model of star shaped polygon showing loading and boundary conditions.
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Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312
energy absorption characteristics of a foam filled star-shaped tube. The
SEA and the PCF are taken into consideration in this paper as the prime
standard for topology optimization. The numerical and experimental
simulation focuses on the comparison of the response of vacant tubes,
which are foam filled under quasi-static axial loading situations.
2. Crashworthiness criteria and material properties
Crashworthiness is defined as ability of a vehicle structure to absorb
the impact energy through a series of predefined deformations, which
enable the occupants to avoid from undergoing the direct impact. It is
usually tested when examining the safety in different modes of trans-
port especially aircraft, railway [19–25] and automobiles [26]. Crash-
worthiness is evaluated either tentatively, utilizing computer-aided
design software and simulation software, e.g., LS-DYNA, PAM-CRASH,
MSC Dytran, MADYMO or tests, and by analyzing crash results [16]. A
few criteria are used to survey crashworthiness tentatively, including
the deformation study of crashed vehicle structure, the acceleration
experienced by the vehicle in the midst of an impact, and ability of
harm foreseen by human body models. Damage probability is described
with the criteria i.e. mechanical parameters, i.e. power, acceleration, or
deformation due to the impact. To understand and evaluate the
crashworthiness performance, crashing is essential and different
methods have been followed in different structures to test their feasi-
bility and energy absorbing capacity. Following criteria are used to
determine the crashworthiness of the structure and equations are then
formulated to understand the different forces and parameters that are
involved in it.
2.1. Initial peak crushing force (IPCF)
To evaluate IPCF, crash box tubes at starting reach a peak point,
then drop is seen and after that, waves are formed in the bottom level
under axial compression loading until densification. As an essentialness
shield, it may cause an outrageous problem or danger when the basic
peak obliges is exorbitantly maximum [27,28]. Subsequently, IPCF
must be restricted to a safety level and should be minimum; thus, in-
creasing deceleration time and therefore reducing the impact on oc-
cupants [29–35].
2.2. Energy absorption (EA)
Energy Absorption generally comprehend and assess the crushing
characteristics of the structure. It is the measure of assimilated energy
amid during crushing process which may be expressed as:
d
EA (d) = f (x ) dx
(1)
0
S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 2. Internal energy versus crashing displacement (n = 0). Fig. 3. Stress-Strain curve of aluminum 6061-O.

F(x) is the axial impact force which depends on displacement (x) during Star polygon, Hexagon, Octagon, Rectangle and square, the length and
crashing. d = net deformation distance (final length of the crushed tube perimeter are 150 mm and 188.5 mm respectively. FE model with
is a difference of initial tube length of 150 mm to crushed part of loading and boundary conditions of axial crush for longitudinal
110 mm, i.e. 40 mm) in this experimental study. member using an impactor is shown in Fig. 1.
Rigid plate-tube contact is considered ‘node to the surface’ in the
2.3. Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) model. The ‘automatic single surface’ is being used on the tube to
prevent interpenetration. Two materials are used during a computation.
SEA is the energy absorbed per the mass of the specimen, and its First, Mat_Rigid (MAT_20) is used to apply on base and effector for a
unit is kJ/kg. SEA is. It is an essential parameter to compare energy- rigid material. This generally prohibits the parts deformation. This
absorbing capacities and expressed as: might result on creating the undesirable effects on internal energy and
selection of tube. MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY is used to al-
d
EA (d) 0
F (x ) dx locate for imitating recoverable transformations of a tube which is
SEA(d) = =
m m (2) under load for a nature of a longitudinal member. Moreover, to avoid
the parts from crossing each other under impact, a number of contact
m = total mass of the specimen. SEA value is the measure of mass ef-
cards are allocated to model. For a simulation two contact cards are
fectiveness of energy absorbing specimen.
used i.e. CONTACT_ AUTOMATIC_NODES_TO_SURFACE and
CONTACT_AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE the contact between mem-
2.4. Mean crushing force (MCF)
bers and impactor an automatic node to surface card is used, likewise
for contact between longitudinal members an automatic single surface
Mean crush force is obtained by dividing energy absorbed to the
card is used. As single surface is allocated for the longitudinal member
total effective deformation, given as:
the tube and impactor values are set to 0. For the simulation of the axial
d
F (x ) dx impact on the longitudinal members, the simulated parts are modeled
EA (d) 0
MCF = =
(3) as shell elements with a fully integrated shell element formula 16.5 as
d d
progressive plastic folding appears during the collapse of tubular
structures occurs so Gaussian integration points through thickness of
3. Finite element modelling of thin-walled longitudinal members shell have been used. Five different cross-sections have been considered
for the analysis i.e. rectangle, square, star-shaped, hexagon and oc-
LS-DYNA is finite element (FE) package used for simulating the thin- tagon.
walled longitudinal members of different cross-sectional shapes like

Table 2
Table 1 SEA and PF of different steel and aluminum polygons.
Mechanical properties of steel and aluminum alloys.
Aluminium Alloy Steel
Steel Aluminium Alloy
Weight (kg) SEA PF (kN) Weight (kg) SEA PF (kN)
Density (kg/m³) 7830 2700 (kJ/kg) (kJ/kg)
Young's Modulus (GPa) 207 58.32
Poisson's ratio 0.28 0.3 Star polygon 0.0955 18.23 24.3 0.665 19.36 45.26
Yield Stress (MPa) 215 78.6 Hexagon 0.0981 15.98 12.4 0.622 16.56 35.23
Ultimate Tensile Stress (MPa) 420 156.68 Octagon 0.0984 13.37 11.4 0.612 14.23 34.12
Rectangle 0.0975 8.75 9.5 0.636 9.96 28.23
Square 0.0971 9.61 10.4 0.627 10.12 32.75

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S. Goyal, et al.
Fig. 4. SEA vs Displacement of different steel and aluminum polygons.
Fig. 5. Force vs Displacement of different steel and aluminum polygons.
To obtain the optimum mesh size for computation, a convergence
test with five different mesh sizes is performed. In comparison, a uni-
form thickness column having the same mass of longitudinal member is
used for mesh convergence. Element size of 3 mm × 3 mm is provided
in the finite element model. The energy absorption characteristics for
different element sizes (exponent n = 0) are shown in Fig. 2, which
shows that there is a very small difference between element sizes
2 mm × 2 mm and 2.5 mm × 2.5 mm. It is observed that the mesh size
of 2.0 mm × 2.0 mm for all models is sufficient.
4. Numerical simulation
Numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the influence of
important parameters on crash behavior and energy dissipation. These
parameters are cross-sectional shape, impact velocity, and thickness
and material type. For quasi-static axial loading, the crash box is kept
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Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312
between two rigid steel plates made into surface having mass as
0.046 kg. The bottom plate is kept fixed and has rigid contact with tube
base. The upper plate hit and moved downwards at a uniform crosshead
speed of 1000 mm/s and it is compressed vertically by displacement
control. When the deformation displacement of the tube approaches
112.5 mm (75% of tube length), the tube is unloaded, and the algorithm
is stopped. Two different materials, steel and aluminum, are used in the
analysis and their mechanical properties are listed in Table 1. The
stress-strain curve for the material specimen using the tensile testing
with the following dimension of the specimen as per ASTM standard
B557 M specifications [10] is shown in Fig. 3.
The SEA is the main criterion used to assess weight efficiency. The
Peak force (PF) is also used to configure the optimum shape. A com-
pilation of results is mentioned in Table 2 below along with SEA and PF
variation with displacement graphs (Figs. 4 and 5) respectively. The
star-shaped polygon provides the optimum SEA for both steel and
aluminum. Aluminum has a 6% lower SEA value than steel but at the
same time, it produced 85% savings in weight and 46% in PF value that
is considered a major advantage compared to the SEA criterion. One
can notice that in these polygons, force first reaches to its maximum
value and then started decaying as displacement progresses.
4.1. Topology optimization of the star shaped polygon
It is investigated from the present analysis that the star-shaped
polygon made of aluminum is the best crash box structure in terms of
SEA. The structural topology optimization tool has been adopted as it
proves to be an effective tool to find the most appropriate star shape
configuration because of our interest in high SEA value. In geometrical
language, a star polygon is a self-converging, equilateral angulate
polygon fabricated by joining one vertex of a simple n-sided polygon to
another non-adjacent vertex and this process is continued until the
original vertex has reached again.
By using the Schläfli symbol notation, different star-shaped poly-
gons (2-polytopes) and (3-polytopes) have been generated as shown in
Fig. 6. This symbol is a notation of the form (n/q) where n is the
number of polygon sides. The star polygons have the identical vertices
S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 6. Different types of star polygon structures represented by Schläfli symbol.

{O0 …, On1} as the regular polygon {n}. However, the line segments
Table 3 connect each point Ok to Ok+q, where indices are taken modulo n, for
SEA and PF Values for different star polygon types. example, {7/2}, {5/2}, {7/3} etc. Similar procedure and dimensions
are adopted for numerical simulations as considered in section 3. All
Profile Type n - sides Weight (kg) SEA (kJ/kg) PF(kN)
shapes have been provided with aluminium alloy as material during a
Type 1 n/2 5 0.095 18.236 24.3 numerical simulation. SEA along with weight consideration and PF has
6 0.098 20.105 25.5 been considered as the main selecting parameters.
7 0.101 20.895 27.2
Compilation of results has been tabulated in Table 3, SEA, and load
8 0.103 21.368 29.5
9 0.11 18.925 23 versus displacement graphs are shown in Figs. 7 and 8(a, b) respec-
10 0.113 16.564 22.5 tively. Out of 14 different arrangements, star polygon with side-8 of
11 0.117 13.223 21.3 type 1(n/2) has the most desirable results among all with an increment
Type 2 n/3 5 0.095 18.234 24.1 of 15% in SEA value from the above section star polygon (n = 5). Al-
6 0.098 20.125 27.4
7 0.103 21.125 30.5
though, there is an increase of 7% in weight, it can be neglected when
8 0.108 21.523 31.2 tallied with SEA increment which is almost double. 17% increment is
9 0.113 19.856 32.6 observed in PF when compared from star polygons with sides (n) < 8
10 0.117 18.223 34.8 but it is in under safe limits (130 kN as in HIC) and can be neglected.
11 0.119 15.362 35.2
After n > 8 in type 1, SEA starts to decrease as it approaches a circular
shape, so all of them are rejected. In type 2(n/3), star polygon with

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S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 7. SEA vs. Displacement graph for Different star polygons types.

Fig. 8. Load - Displacement for different star polygon (a) type 1 and (b) type 2.

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S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Table 4
Properties of different types of foam.
Foam Property Symbol Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 Type 5 Unit

Density ρf 45 35 30 28 20 kg/m³
Elasticity Ef 9.123 8 5.778 3.335 1.448 MPa
Modulus
Yield Stress σf 0.224 0.178 0.13 0.089 0.047 MPa
Locking Strain ε 73 60 51 35 21 (%)
Poisson ratio ν 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

n = 8 has maximum SEA, so it is chosen from the type 2 star polygons.

Type 1-star polygon with n = 8 shows savings of 6% in PF value and 5%
in weight which is in large favour of our aim. Moreover, the star shape
tubes of type 2 and higher order i.e. n > 7 are difficult to manufacture
as first, highly skilled labor is required to produce a die or mold for
forging such cross-sectional tubes with accuracy and precision as it is
not so easy to bend and get so many folds of aluminum alloy with such a
small dimension. If the whole chassis longitudinal members are pro-
vided with these cross sections then also, cost and forging defects will
be more along with the time taken. It is thus leading to poor strength
and easy buckling. Thus, it will be not feasible from an economical
point of view for bulk productions as needed in automobiles industries.
Due to the increase in complexity of type 2 star polygons with n > 6, Fig. 10. (a) Meshing of thin-walled tube, (b) foam core, (c) whole set.
deformation starts moving towards Euler's mode which is inefficient in
energy absorption mechanism. Buckling starts after 2–3 folds as the
load on it increases. are extruded polystyrene foam with 45 kg/m³, 35 kg/m³, 30 kg/m³and
28 kg/m³ densities, and one is a polyurethane expanded foam of 20 kg/
4.2. Reinforcing material as foams m³ density. All these properties are related to the density of foam, cell
wall materials and its geometry. It must be noted that locking strain, ε is
Foams have good energy absorbing and compressive strength the stress corresponding to stress level of double the yield stress. The
properties. Therefore, five different types of foams are used as re- relevant stress-strain curves are obtained by a uniaxial compression test
inforcing material in the 8 sided star polygon, which appears to be an as presented in Fig. 9. The behavior of the curve is characterized by
optimal structure to make further this polygon absorb more energy initial linear elastic part; then horizontal part is obtained at constant
during the impact. Mechanical properties of 5 different type's foams like stress representing perfectly plastic material due to crushing of cells of
modulus of elasticity, yield stress are mentioned in Table 4. Out of 5, 4 the foam. After a threshold value of strain, it starts to harden, and stress

Fig. 9. Stress-strain curves of foam obtained from Quasi-Static Compression tests.

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S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

type of interface. The thickness has to be considered for the shell that
has considered for modelling using shell elements. Normal nodal pro-
jections prevent the elements from collapsing and penetrating surface
for single surface contact. The whole specimen is considered as slave
surface for this contact. Relative motion between the interfaces is al-
lowed by assuming Coulomb friction coefficients for static and dynamic
are equal to 0.3 and 0.2 conditions respectively. Numerical simulation
is terminated when crosshead displacement reached to 112.5 mm.

5. Experimental procedure

In this experiment, the specimen tube is placed between two steel

Fig. 11. HEICO HL-59025 material testing machine.
starts to increase rapidly. In the initial stage of densification phase,
density of foam become almost equal to that of solid part and hence-
forth, it is under pure solid compression.
plates in automated HEICO HL-59025 (Fig. 11) universal testing ma-
chine with a screw-nut movement mechanism of 200 kN loading ca-
pacity. The tube is compressed with a constant speed of 1000 mm/s
given to upper plate.
During the test, load and displacement are recorded automatically
by the machines data recording and collection console. The compres-
sion process stops as the compressive displacement reaches a distance
of 112.5 mm and the resulting force vs displacement graph is plotted
automatically. After this foam is added in a tube and the same proce-
dure as mentioned above is again performed to get the required results.
The environmental conditions in which this experiment is performed
are equal to 24◦C, and the relative humidity is 50–60%

6. Results and discussion

4.3. Finite element modelling of foam filled
The FE model that is filled with compressible foam in a rectangular
of shell is used for the analysis for progressive collapse has four main
parts that have been tested and two platens of press. The FE modelling
for empty longitudinal tube member was discussed in section 3. The
foam material is simulated by the 63 ‘MAT CRUSHABLE FOAM’ from
the data bank of the code. The mesh of the foam consisted of 35336
solid elements (eight nodded hexahedrons) (Fig. 10).
The dynamic conditions such as moving mass and static conditions
such as base regions to be analyzed for the interface phenomena for that
both the conditions nodes to surface type has been selected. The ‘slave’
nodes of shell and ‘master’ contacting surfaces of base and moving mass
parts has been set to penalty formulation by sliding interface. The
master surface is defined as the target surface i.e., the contact surface
on moving mass; the ‘slave’ ones are the shell edged ones. When the
tube wall or outer foam surface is collapsed during simulation, a term is
defined called surface contact that creates a new interface called single
Numerical and experimental analysis are performed for evaluation
of the effect of different reinforcing material, i.e. foam in main crushing
characteristics, crash energy absorption and overall crushing response.
A series of simulations and experiments have been carried on star-
shaped polygon (n = 8) thin-walled tube by incorporating five types of
foams and their result are shown terms of SEA, PCF, EA of aluminium
material in Table 5.
A summary of the results shows, the foam with density type 2 is
considered appropriate even though the foam with a higher density is
also present which in this case is type 1. This is because with the in-
crease in density the mass of the substance also increases, which is in-
versely proportional to the SEA causing deviation from the main aim of
the experiment, i.e. to incorporate foam inside the crash box to increase
the SEA. Moreover, type-5 was found trapped in the interior folds due
to its lower density, which retains lower hardness and greater flexibility
and therefore, the relevant foam fills the voids between the folds more
easily. From the result, it is observed that the 8-sided star polygon filled

Table 5
Crushing characteristics of star shape tube tested.
Crushing Loads (kN)

Mean Crushing Force

Specimen No. Foam type Displacement (mm) PCF (kN) Experimental Numerical Simulation EA (kJ) SEA (kJ/kg)

1 Empty 110 29.5 20.1 20.3 2.201 21.368

2 Type 1 110 120.2 64.28 63.27 6.96 35.56
3 Type 2 110 123 60.01 60.36 6.64 36.033
4 Type 3 110 118.65 38.71 38.72 4.26 31.59
5 Type 4 110 116 26.21 26.27 2.89 26.56
6 Type 5 110 114.56 21.01 20.36 2.24 22.03

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S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 12. Views of progressive collapse (simulation) of empty 8-sided star polygon tube.

Fig. 13. Views of progressive collapse (experiment) of empty 8-sided star polygon tube.

with type 2 foam is the best possible combination for achieving higher
SEA. The detailed results are explained in terms of deformation mode,
PF and SEA in the following section.
6.1. Deformation modes
A progression of images of deformation modes has been taken si-
multaneously during various stages of numerical simulation and ex-
perimental analysis. For 8-sided star polygon tube, Figs. 12 and 13
shows the views of simulation and experimental progressive collapse of
empty tube, respectively. Similarly, Figs. 14 and 15 show the views of
simulation and experimental progressive collapse of foam-filled tube.
Figs. 16 and 17 show the comparison of simulation and experimental
deformation patterns of empty and foam-filled tube, respectively.
Figs. 18 and 19 show the simulation load–displacement curve for the
empty and foam-filled tube. Identification of deformation modes of
thin-walled star shape cross-sectional tubes is a complex process which
depends not just on physical parameters i.e. length, time etc. but also on

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S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 14. Views of progressive collapse (simulation) of foam filled 8-sided star polygon tube.

Fig. 15. Views of progressive collapse (experiment) of foam filled 8-sided star polygon tube.

Fig. 16. Comparison of simulation results with experimental data concerning the deformation patterns for empty tube.

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S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 17. Comparison of simulation results with experimental data concerning the deformation patterns for foam filled tube.

Fig. 18. Load–displacement curve (Simulation) for empty 8-sided star polygon tube.

Fig. 19. Load–displacement curve (Simulation) for foam filled 8-sided star polygon tube.

11
S. Goyal, et al.
Fig. 20. Numerical and experimental results of the force vs. displacement curve
without foam-filled star-shaped tube.
Fig. 21. Numerical and experimental results of the force vs. displacement curve
with foam-filled star-shaped tube.
the material parameters like strain rate effect of foams. Deformation
plots for the distinctive auxiliary arrangement at various instants of
times while been affected by the inflexible plate. Deformation modes
may provide an understanding to lobes formation, their sort either
concertina or diamond and an approach to look at assessment at a
various instant. The formations of lobes begin from the impacted end
and systematic increment from a similar end. Most of the configuration
in Figs. 12 and 14 are axisymmetric modes of deformation. After the
formation of each lobe, energy is discharged which causes fluctuation in
the force vs. displacement curve. As the development of lobes pro-
gresses, the wrinkle collapsing is rehashed. As the wall reinforcing and
supporting winds up more grounded in a setup, concertina or diamond
mode is observed and the wall is bolstered at generally bigger gaps
giving bending its role to carry out. First, in 2–4 lobes, there is ax-
isymmetric mode, and then it moves to diamond mode thereafter in
present study specimen which is without foam-filled whereas more
symmetrical failure collapsing behavior is observed in foam filled
Figs. 13 and 15. Nevertheless, both specimens pursued the concertina to
diamond mode lobes formation, which provides a clue of higher energy
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Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312
absorption as observed. Therefore, these modes are alluring as they
ensure a progressive collapse.
6.2. Comparison of peak force and Specific Energy Absorption
Force vs. displacement curves is plotted showing the similarity be-
tween both numerical and experimental results for both empty and
foam filled 8-sided star shape tube in Figs. 20 and 21 with less than 2%
error. It may be noticed that results obtained from the numerical ana-
lysis have obtained a good overall agreement with the experimental
results. The reason for 2% error can be due to meshing problems in FEA
i.e. (1) number of elements selected, (2) Interpolation function and (3)
numerical error. The comparison of EA, SEA, PCF and MCF is shown in
Fig. 22, for without foam and foam filled tube. It is found that foam
filling tube have a significant increment in energy absorption i.e.
2.201 KJ to 6.64 KJ making it more applicable in better energy ab-
sorption criteria. 40% increase is found in SEA in foam-filled as com-
pared to simple tube. However, it is observed that by incorporating
foam, 40% increase in mass and 75% in PF value is witnessed. An effort
has been made for taking the best combination of foam material to
reduce mass as much as possible. Addition of 0.081 kg in overall chassis
weight is acceptable when compared with increment in SEA capacity.
Moreover, there is an increase in peak crushing force, and it is en-
countered at point B (Fig. 21). Such a typical curve behavior for rigid
foam is characterized by higher compressive strength. Initially, ‘A’ point
in Fig. 21 represents the initiation of first folding due to linear elastic
property, followed by a wide horizontal part of almost constant stress,
which corresponds to an almost perfectly plastic material owing to the
crushing of the cells of the foam. After a threshold strain that at point ‘B’
in Fig. 21, the foam becomes hard, and the stress increases rapidly. At
the beginning of this phase, called the densification phase, the foam
density has become equal with that of solid material, and henceforth it
is under pure solid compression as mentioned in the study. Therefore, it
can bear great amount of impact force, and at the same time, it is seen
that impact-induced deceleration levels are within the tolerance limit.
With the use of the large foam increment in MCF is achieved which is
advantageous at the time of impact. Table 6 and Fig. 23 shows a
comparison between simple star-shaped tube and foam-filled star-
shaped tube both numerically and experimentally.
7. Conclusion
This paper aimed at improving the cross-section of longitudinal
member of the automotive chassis to improve the energy absorption
capacity and mean crushing load capacity. Several types of star-shaped
structure configurations have been employed as this polygon showed
unrivalled results in comparison to its counterparts (hexagon, octagon,
square, and rectangle) with SEA value of 18.3 kJ/kg of aluminum alloy.
With the help of continuous experimentation and simulations with
various configurations of this polygon, 8 sided star polygon of type 1
provided the best combination of high SEA and low peak crushing
forces. In addition, factors such as material and weight are also con-
sidered as selection parameters. The numerical simulation is carried out
using the explicit dynamics of Ansys 17.1 software.
The effect of incorporating foam on mechanical response of axially
loaded foam filled within varying star-shaped tube is studied next both
experimentally and numerically. Using foam of type 2 provides more
additional crushing strength to structure during collapsing, and it is
observed that it gets easily filled in the folds of specimen because of its
S. Goyal, et al. Thin-Walled Structures 144 (2019) 106312

Fig. 22. Comparison of with and without foam filled star shape structure (a) EA and SEA (b) MCF and PCF.

Table 6
Comparison between PCF, EA, SEA, and MCF for different specimens.
PF (kN) MCF (kN) EA (kJ) SEA (kJ/kg) Perimeter (mm) Mass (kg)

Without Foam 29.5 20.1 2.201 21.368 188.5 0.103

Foam Filled Star Structure 118 60.36 6.64 36.033 188.5 0.184

flexibility providing more stability to specimen. A foam-filled tube
shows this behavior of symmetrical failure mechanism, whilst the
empty tube exhibits many instabilities resulting in asymmetric buck-
ling. It is noticed that load fluctuations are not observed in the foam-
filled tube as compared to a simple tube. Therefore, the presence of
foam mainly contributes to smooth and symmetrical crushing. The
change of non-compact to compact is also observed due to homogenous
pressure exerted inside the specimen. The foam with the larger density
offered more support and strength to the collapsing tube. The numerical
simulation of the collapsed mechanism attained describes the success of
the progressive collapse of the tested specimens and evaluates all the
crushing characteristics of such structural components with a good
accuracy (less than 2% error) within a reasonable amount of CPU time.
The analysis concluded that type 2 foam in 8 sided star polygon
provides the best combination of structural supplement to improve
bending resistance of chassis members. This combination of structure is
found to possess three times the value of total energy absorbed and
almost double the value of SEA i.e. 36.03 kJ/kg from the empty tube
with expanded MCF. The possibility of a new cross-section of crash box
structure is accomplished which proves to be an effective part in an
automobile structure in reducing impact force during collisions from
reaching inside the occupant's compartment.

13
S. Goyal, et al.
Fig. 23. Comparison between simple star-shaped tube and foam-filled star-
shaped tube both numerically and experimentally.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2019.106312.
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