Experimental and numerical crashworthiness investigation of empty and foam-filled end-capped conical tubes

Foam-filled thin-wall structures exhibit significant advantages in light weight and high energy absorption. They have been widely applied in automotive, aerospace, transportation and defense industries. Quasi-static tests were done to investigate the crash behavior of the empty and polyurethane foam-filled end-capped conical tubes. Non-linear dynamic finite element analyses were carried out to simulate the quasi-static tests. The predicted numerical crushing force and fold pattern were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. The energy absorption capacities of the filled tubes were compared with the empty end-capped conical tubes. The results showed that the energy absorption capability of foam-filled tube is somewhat higher than that of the combined effect of the empty tube and the foam alone. Finally, the crash performance of the empty and foam filled conical and cylindrical tubes were compared. Results from this study can assist aerospace industry to design sounding rocket carrier payload based on foam-filled conical tubes.