Crashworthiness design of multi-cell tapered tubes using response surface methodology

In this article, crashworthiness performance and crushing behavior of tapered structures with four internal reinforcing plates under axial and oblique dynamic loadings have been investigated. These structures have a tapered form with five cross sections of square, hexagonal, octagonal, decagon and circular shape. In the first step, finite element simulations performed in LS-DYNA were validated by comparing with experimental data. The code generated in LS-DYNA was then used to investigate energy absorption behavior of the tapered structures. Response surface methodology and historical data design technique were employed to optimize the cross section perimeter (tapered angle) of the tapered structures by considering two conflicting crashworthiness criteria including EA (energy absorption) and PCF (peak crushing force). The optimization results showed that the optimal tapered angle enhanced by increasing the number of cross section sides (or number of corners). Then, the optimized tapered structures with different cross-sections were compared with each other using a ranking method called TOPSIS to introduce the most efficient energy absorber. The decagonal structure was finally found to be the best energy absorber.