EFFECT OF FORMING HISTORY ON CRASHWORTHINESS OF A SPOT-WELDED AND DOUBLE-HAT ELLIPTICAL THIN-WALLED TUBE

Abstract

Thin-walled structures (TWTs) are widely used in automotive and aerospace industries due to their easy formability, high energy absorption capacity, low cost and lightweight advantages. In this study, under dynamic axial load, the crashworthiness of spot-welded and double-hat shaped elliptical TWT was investigated by the finite element method (FEM). In addition, bead-shaped trigger mechanism was added to the TWT to reduce the peak crushing force. Changes in wall thickness (thickening or thinning of some elements), plastic strain and work hardening may occur during forming. In order to investigate the effect of the forming history on crashworthiness, the TWT was formed by single-acting deep drawing using FEM and results were mapped. The results showed that the forming history has effect on the crashworthiness of the tube. With deep drawing results mapped to the tube, energy absorption decreased by 5.218% and peak crushing force decreased by 3.614%. RADIOSS/explicit and nonlinear FE codes were used.

Keywords

• Crashworthiness; Thin-Walled Tubes; Forming History; Finite Element Method; Deep Drawing

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