Numerical study of the effect of geometry and metal foam on the energy absorption of nested profiles

In this paper, the effect of geometry and addition of aluminum foam adsorbents on the energy absorption of nested thin-walled profiles under compressive axial load is investigated. ABAQUS commercial finite element software has been used for numerical analysis. The nested profiles are made of 6060-T5 aluminum material and the outer and inner profiles are considered with circular, square, hexagonal and octagonal cross sections. Force and displacement diagrams have been used to study the energy absorption rate of different nested geometries along with the calculation of total energy absorption and specific energy absorption. Finally, in order to investigate the effect of adding metal foam, three modes of adding aluminum foam to the nested profile under axial load were investigated. Nested thin-walled profiles absorb more energy when the foam is added than when hollow. In addition, the interaction between the foam walls and the pipe causes an additional increase in energy dissipation.