Relative merits of single-cell, multi-cell and foam-filled thin-walled structures in energy absorption

The axial crushing of hollow multi-cell columns were studied analytically and numerically. A theoretical solution for the mean crushing force of multi-cell sections were derived, and the solution was shown to compare very well with the numerical predictions. Numerical studies were also carried out on foam-filled double-cell and triple-cell columns. Based upon the numerical results, closed-form solutions were derived to calculate the mean crushing strength of these sections. It was found that the interaction effects between the foam core and the column wall contribute to the total crushing resistance by the amounts equal to 140% and 180% of the direct foam resistance for double cell and triple cell respectively. Finally, the relative merits of single-cell, multi-cell and foam-filled sections were discussed.     

Experimental and numerical crashworthiness investigation of empty and foam-filled end-capped conical tubes

Foam-filled thin-wall structures exhibit significant advantages in light weight and high energy absorption. They have been widely applied in automotive, aerospace, transportation and defense industries. Quasi-static tests were done to investigate the crash behavior of the empty and polyurethane foam-filled end-capped conical tubes. Non-linear dynamic finite element analyses were carried out to simulate the quasi-static tests. The predicted numerical crushing force and fold pattern were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. The energy absorption capacities of the filled tubes were compared with the empty end-capped conical tubes. The results showed that the energy absorption capability of foam-filled tube is somewhat higher than that of the combined effect of the empty tube and the foam alone. Finally, the crash performance of the empty and foam filled conical and cylindrical tubes were compared. Results from this study can assist aerospace industry to design sounding rocket carrier payload based on foam-filled conical tubes.     

Optimization of the foam-filled aluminum tubes for crush box application

Axial impact crush tests on empty and foam-filled square aluminum tubes have been performed. Furthermore, in order to find more details about the crush processes, finite element simulations of the experiments have been done. In terms of finding more efficient and lighter crush absorber and achieving maximum energy absorption, multidesign optimization (MDO) technique has been applied for optimizing the square rectangular tubes. Based on practical requirements the optimum tube geometry, which absorbs maximum energy and has a minimum weight, has been determined. Results of previous work indicated that using high density honeycomb for filling the tubes will results more energy absorption but the weight efficiency has been lost [Zarei HR, Kröger M. Optimum honeycomb filled crash absorber design. Mater Des 2007;29:193–204]. Therefore, a comprehensive study has been performed in order to find out the crush behavior of tube filled with foam with different densities. The MDO procedure has been implemented to find an optimum filled tube that absorbed the same energy as an optimum empty tube can absorb.     

Crashworthiness investigation of kagome honeycomb sandwich cylindrical column under axial crushing loads

For the classic thin-walled energy absorber, the energy dissipation during a collision is concentrated over relatively narrow zones. This means that a great deal of materials of the columns do not participate in the plastic deformation or not enter into the large plastic deformation stage. To expand the plastic deformation zones and improve the energy absorption efficiency, a new type of kagome honeycomb sandwich bitubal circular column is presented in this paper. This innovative impact energy absorber is made of two circular aluminum tubes filled with core shaped as a large-cell kagome lattice. The interaction effect, deformation mode and energy absorption characteristics of the composite structure are investigated numerically. Observing the collapsing process, it is found that the kagome lattices buckle first, which triggers the outer and inner skin tubes to fold locally. This behavior increases the plastic deformation areas. Moreover, the presence of the outer and inner tubes strengthens the buckling capacity of kagome cell. Furthermore, the folded tube walls intrude into the gap of the honeycomb cell, which further retards the collapse of the honeycomb cell. So the interaction effects between the honeycomb and column walls greatly improve the energy absorption efficiency. In addition, the effects of geometrical parameters of the kagome honeycomb on the structural crashworthiness are studied. It is found that the cell wall thickness and cell distribution (cell number in the circumferential direction) have distinct effects on the specific energy absorption. Besides, we also studied the foam-filled column with the same foam density as the kagome honeycomb and compared it with the kagome sandwich structure. It is found that the kagome sandwich column has higher mean crash force and better energy absorption characteristics.     

Comparisons of honeycomb sandwich and foam-filled cylindrical columns under axial crushing loads

For the conventional thin-walled energy absorber, the energy dissipation during a collision is concentrated in relatively narrow zones. This means that a great deal of material does not participate in the plastic deformation or enter the large plastic deformation stage. To expand the plastic deformation zones and improve the energy absorption efficiency, the authors presented a new type of honeycomb sandwich circular column. This innovative energy absorber is a composite structure composed of two circular aluminum tubes filled with core shaped as a large-cell honeycomb lattice. In this paper, six different honeycomb sandwich circular columns were investigated numerically. Comparisons of the interaction effect between tubes and filler, the deformation modes and the energy absorption abilities of these columns were conducted. The results were as following. The kagome sandwich column had the best energy absorption capability, followed by the columns sandwiched with triangle, hexagon lattices. In addition, foam-filled columns with different adhesive conditions were also simulated and compared with the honeycomb sandwich columns. It was found that increasing the adhesive strength improved the energy absorption and changed the deformation mode of the foam-filled columns. Furthermore, comparison showed that the honeycomb sandwich columns had higher specific energy absorption capability than the foam-filled tubes except for the strong bonded case. The kagome sandwich column performed best in crashworthiness, followed by triangle sandwich column.     

Design optimization of cross-sectional configuration of rib-reinforced thin-walled beam

In this paper, a rib-reinforced thin-walled hollow tube-like beam (named as rib-reinforced beam) is presented for potential application in vehicle bumper. Through numerical simulation of the bending behavior under impact loads, the rib-reinforced beam is compared with thin-walled hollow tube-like beams filled with and without foam materials (empty beam and foam-filled beam) in crashworthiness. The effects of the shape of the reinforced rib are investigated and the shape optimization design is performed for increasing energy absorption and reducing the initial peak force. A multi-objective crashworthiness optimization formulation including maximum energy absorption, maximum specific energy absorption and minimum initial peak force is constructed based on the ideal point method (IPM). The optimum configuration of the reinforced rib is given with a normalized cubic spline function. Numerical example results show that, compared with the empty and foam-filled beams with same weights, the optimized rib-reinforced beam has higher energy absorption performance and lower initial crash force. It is found that for the rib-reinforced beam little rumple is formed around the compressed indention, which helps to retard the collapse of the side wall and means more energy absorption.     

Quasi-static axial compression behavior of constraint hexagonal and square-packed empty and aluminum foam-filled aluminum multi-tubes

The axial crushing behavior of empty and Al close-cell foam-filled single Al tubes and Al multi-tube designs (hexagonal and square) were investigated through quasi-static compression testing. The effects of foam filling on the deformation mode and the crushing and average crushing loads of single tubes and multi-tube designs were determined. The foam filling was found to shift the deformation mode of empty single tube and empty multi-tube designs from diamond into concertina. In multi-tube designs the constraint effects and the frictional forces were found to increase the average crushing loads over those of single tubes. It was also found that foam filling induced a higher strengthening coefficient in multi-tube than single tubes. Although foam filling increased the energy absorption in single tubes and multi-tube designs, it was not effective in increasing the specific absorbed energy over that of the empty tubes. However, multi-tube designs were found to be energetically more effective than single tubes at similar foam-filler densities, proving a higher interaction effect in multi-tube designs.     

碰撞试验中泡沫填充铝管的最优化设计

对泡沫填充空心方铝管进行轴向撞击粉碎试验。此外，为获得更多有关撞击过程的信息，也对试验进行了有限元模拟分析。为找到更有效轻便的撞击减震器，并达到吸收最多能量的目的，在方矩形管的优化设计中采用了多元设计优化方法（MDO）。基于管的最佳几何尺寸考虑将具有最轻重量并且吸收能量最多作为设计目标。前期研究表明，使用高密度蜂窝材料填充会使管吸收更多能量，但重量不是最轻[Zarei HR，Kroger M．Optimum honey-comb filled crash absorber design．Mater Des 2007，29：193-204]。因此，为了解采用不同密度的泡沫填充管的撞击性能，进行了全面的研究，。采用MDO方法寻找一种优化填充管，使其吸收的能量与最优空心管吸收的能量一样多。     

Multiobjective crashworthiness optimization of hollow and conical tubes for multiple load cases

Much attention of current design analysis and optimization of crashworthy structures have been largely paid to the scenarios with single load case in literature. Nevertheless the designed structures may often have to be operated in other load conditions, thus raising a critical issue of optimality. This paper aims to understand and optimize the dynamic responses and energy absorption of foam-filled conical thin-walled tubes under oblique impact loading conditions by using multiobjective optimization method. The crashworthiness criteria, namely specific energy absorption (SEA) and crushing force efficiency (CFE), are related to loading parameters and design variables by using D-optimal design of experiments (DoE) and Kriging model. To obtain the optimal Pareto solutions of hollow and foam-filled conical tubes, design optimization is first performed under different loading case (DLC) using multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm separately. The optimal designs indicate that hollow tube has better crashing performance than the foam-filled tube under relatively high impacting velocity and great loading angle. To combine multiple load cases (MLC) for multiobjective optimization, a double weight factor technique is then adopted. It is found that the optimal foam-filled tube has better crashing performance than empty conical tube under any of overall oblique loading cases concerned. The study gains insights in deriving multiobjective optimization for multiple load cases, providing a guideline for design of energy absorber under multiple oblique loading.     

Crashworthiness design of functionally graded foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structures

Foam-filled thin-walled structure has recently gained attention due to its excellent crashworthiness. Based on the previous study, a new kind of foam-filled thin-walled structure called as functionally graded foam-filled thin-walled structure has more excellent crashworthiness than the traditional uniform foam-filled thin-walled structure. Moreover, as far as we know multi-cell thin-walled structure has more excellent crashworthiness than the traditional single-cell thin-walled structure. As an integrator of the above two kinds of excellent thin-walled structures, functionally graded foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structure (FGFMTS) may has extremely excellent crashworthiness. Based on our study, the crashworthiness of the FGFMTSs is significantly affected by the design parameter of the graded functional parameter m. Thus, in order to obtain the optimal design parameters, the FGFMTSs with different cross sections and different wall materials are optimized using the multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm to achieve maximum specific energy absorption (SEA) capacity and minimum peak crushing force (PCF). At the same time, the corresponding uniform foam-filled multi-cell thin-walled structures (UFMTS) which have the same weight as these FGFMTSs are also optimized in our study. In the multiobjective design optimization (MDO) process, polynomial functional metamodels of SEA and PCF of FGFMTSs are used to reduce the computational cost of crash simulations by finite element method. The MDO results show that the FGFMTS with PCF in the initial period of its crash not only has better crashworthiness than the traditional UFMTS with the same weight but also performs superior balance of crashing stability. Thus, the optimal design of the FGFMTS with PCF occurring in the initial crash is an extremely excellent energy absorber and can be used in the practical engineering.     

Design and fabrication of the passive solar still using blue metal stone

In this paper, an attempt has been made to find out the effect of blue metal stone on heat transfer coefficient for a passive single-slope distillation system in summer climatic conditions. The experiments have been conducted on a south facing, single slope, solar still of 10° inclination of condensing cover, in summer climatic conditions for 24?h on 5 different days for three different sizes of blue metal stone from 6 to 20?mm and this is finally compared by using the basin without any absorbing material. The thermal efficiency is calculated by using the energy balance equation.     

聚氨酯和聚苯乙烯热解前后的结构演变

以软质聚氨酯泡沫和聚苯乙烯泡沫颗粒两种典型多孔材料为试验对象,对其孔隙率、孔径分布、表观密度和堆积密度等结构特性参数及表面微观形貌进行了测算和表面扫描电镜(SEM)表征,研究不同热解程度材料结构特性演变与阴燃建立和传播趋势之间的关系。结果表明:软质聚氨酯泡沫结构尺寸更大,整体更为疏松,受热成炭后呈现轮廓清晰的细削骨架,孔隙硕大且畅通,氧气完全自由输运,热量传递更直接,更易建立阴燃、维持传播并实现向明火的转化;相对而言,聚苯乙烯泡沫颗粒孔径较为细小,受热后成炭显著,孔径尺寸减小,空气气流量和氧气容纳量大大减少,不易建立阴燃过程。     

一种新型的夹芯结构

金属（铝壳,蜂房或金属泡沫核）或聚合物（复合面层,聚合物泡沫核）夹芯结构被认为是承受弯曲荷载的优化设计结构。本文在发挥金属性材料和聚合物材料优势的基础上,研制了一种新的混杂夹芯结构。这种新理念的结构中金属片用在外表面以加强刚度,轻质核与外壳粘结成整体。此外,还将复合层或木材层作为中间层以提高冲击阻力。制造这种新结构潜在的方法是基于真空压缩。对该结构的研究包含基于有限元分析的几种面层的理论构造,改进的简化方程,对典型案例的试验。     

多孔泡沫金属研究现状及分析

多孔泡沫金属是一种新型多用途材料 ,在一般工业领域 ,特别是高技术领域受到越来越广泛的重视 ,为此近年来已引起了国内外研究者的研究兴趣 .笔者对多孔泡沫金属的研究现状进行了归纳和分析 ,提出了现存的问题和今后研究的几点建议 ,以求拓宽多孔泡沫金属的研究领域及在国民经济中的应用范围     

考虑柱间相互作用的阶形柱计算长度系数

柱间相互作用对阶形柱的稳定性有很大的影响,而我国现行规范及已有文献所给出的阶形柱计算长度系数的计算方法不能准确考虑该作用。利用等截面压杆的转角 位移方程得到阶形柱的刚度矩阵,由此推导了轴力对阶形柱刚度削弱的表达式,并构建了可考虑柱间相互作用的阶形柱计算长度系数的计算式。研究表明该计算长度系数计算式具有较高的精度,使用方便,可用于多跨框架的计算,同时也适用于柱高不等的情况。对钢梁起坡的山形门式刚架,给出了实用的计算方法,参数分析表明采用该方法计算得到的柱计算长度系数具有良好的精度,可满足设计需要。     

泡沫铜/石蜡复合相变材料融化过程的换热特性

为了研究强化相变蓄热器的换热情况,搭建了矩形腔体内填充泡沫金属/石蜡的实验台,在恒壁温条件下,进行了泡沫金属/石蜡复合相变材料的融化蓄热实验.根据实验数据绘制了不同加热温度下石蜡内部温度随时间变化曲线,分析了腔体内自然对流对温度分布的影响、传热温差对蓄热时间的影响.结果表明,泡沫金属的高导热性能强化了石蜡在腔体内的融化...     

固定式压缩空气泡沫系统单喷头喷洒特性及灭火效能

对5 种典型结构喷头进行了单喷头喷洒压缩空气泡沫和纯水试验,对喷洒介质在底面上的密度分布以及喷洒的泡沫25%析液时间进行比较分析。研究发现,喷头结构类型和流动参数都会影响泡沫析液特性,喷头内部旋芯会使泡沫稳定性降低;下垂式水喷头的底面分布均匀性较好,而扰流喷头和两种七孔喷头的底面分布均匀性相对较差,且下垂式水喷头和扰流喷头在更高的压力和流量条件下的底面分布均匀性降低;同时,压缩空气泡沫系统的喷头选型可以在一定程度上参考相应喷头的喷水特性。选用最优性能参数喷头,建立火灾模型,开展固定式压缩空气泡沫系统全尺寸变压器热油火灾试验,验证喷头与固定式系统的适配性。     

闭孔泡沫铝材料的穿孔法剪切试验

为获取泡沫铝材料的抗剪强度,采用穿孔剪切方法对2种不同相对密度、不同孔径尺寸的铝硅闭孔泡沫铝材料进行了试验测试。结合抗压强度试验结果,分析并验证2种材料剪切试验过程中不同的破坏过程,给出了抗剪强度的确定方法。试验结果表明：穿孔法用于泡沫铝材料的抗剪强度测试是可行的,但应合理确定穿孔器直径和试件厚度,避免在剪切过程中出现试件的压缩破坏。所得结论可为其他泡沫金属材料的剪切性能试验提供参考。     

抗爆缓冲材料动态力学特性及微观破裂分析

采用准静态、落锤冲击和分离式霍普金森压杆(SHPB)试验研究方法,借助电镜扫描(SEM)手段,对泡沫Al、Al-Si12基、Al-Si6基、泡沫Mg及Al–纤维和Al–稀土闭孔泡沫材料进行吸能特性试验研究,并讨论其微观破坏特征。准静态试验结果表明,基体材料不同,应力–应变曲线和吸能性能关系差异较大,抗压强度值最大为5 MPa左右。落锤冲击应力–应变和吸能特性试验结果说明,冲击载荷作用下材料抗压强度提高较大,最高可达15 MPa,吸能值最大达29 J。SHPB试验结果得出缓冲吸能性能良好的泡沫材料参数以密度为0.35～0.70 g/cm3,孔隙度为65%～87%,孔径为1.0～4.0 mm为宜。静态与冲击试验微观破坏结果均说明泡沫Al材料具有明显的撕裂痕迹,表现出韧性断裂特征。与准静态试验结果相比,冲击速度增大后,材料强度和吸能性能得到更好发挥,泡沫Al材料吸能值最大,变形空间较大,更适合用于防冲吸能支护材料。相似模拟试验结果表明,锚杆支护、U型钢支护巷道都存在不同程度的冲击变形或破坏,防冲支护巷道发生冲击后整体性较好。     

泡沫铝填充钢管短柱工作性能研究

通过对9根泡沫铝填充钢管构件短柱进行轴压试验,分析了含钢率、泡沫铝密度等参数对泡沫铝填充钢管构件短柱受力性能的影响。根据试验结果,对泡沫铝填充钢管构件的轴向压缩曲线进行了分析,并与空钢管结构进行了比较。结果表明,泡沫铝填充钢管后,钢管的平均压溃力以及最大压缩荷载都有了较大提高。