Research on energy absorption characteristics of spiral tapered tube under oblique loading

Thin-walled structures are widely used in transportation and other fields because of their advantages of light weight，low manufacturing cost and high energy absorption efficiency. In order to improve the energy absorption performance of traditional straight tube and corrugated tube，a kind of tapered tube with spiral corrugated pattern，named the spiral tapered tube，was proposed. The crushing behavior and energy absorption characteristics of spiral tapered tube under oblique load were studied by finite element method. The influences of different geometric parameters and loading angles on the initial peak force，mean crushing force，energy absorption and specific energy absorption were analyzed. It is found that the oblique load can limit the energy absorption performance of the structure，but the tapered tube can withstand the oblique load as effectively as the axial load. With the introduction of spiral corrugation，the initial peak force of the tapered tube can be significantly reduced by up to 78% compared with that of the tapered tube. The crushing force efficiency is increased by up to 50%，which significantly reduces fluctuation of load. But the spe cific energy absorption is a little bit lower. The results provide theoretical guidance for design of energy absorbing structure.