Enhancement of artificial defects on the crashworthiness of corrugated sandwich cylindrical shells

Corrugated sandwich cylindrical shells with prefabricated circumferential band defects (CSCSPD) were proposed and fabricated. Quasi-static axial compression experiments were performed to evaluate the crushing characteristics. Detailed parametric investigation was conducted to find out more about the failure mechanisms, as well as the effect of geometrical parameters. The surrogate models for structural energy absorption characteristics was established and optimized for design. Compared with the non-defective structure, CSCSPD began to deform at the defect location during the crushing process, and the peak force (PF) would be significantly reduced, but the specific energy absorption (SEA) barely decreased. Additionally, the multi-objective optimization design could further increase the CSCSPD's ability to absorb energy.