A study of lateral collapse of square and rectangular metallic tubes

The paper presents an experimental and computational study of rectangular and square tubes made of aluminium and mild steel and subjected to quasi-static transverse loading. Deformed shapes at different stages, load–compression and energy–compression curves have been obtained experimentally. The deformation process was numerically simulated using finite element code FORGE2. The contours of different components of stress and strain rate tensors and nodal velocity have been plotted. Mechanics of deformation process, comparison of experimental and computed results and effect of process parameters on the mode of deformation are presented and discussed.