Optimization of Foam-Filled Square Thin-Walled Aluminium Structures

Crash box are the structural part designed to absorb energy during crash and minimize the injury to passengers. Various design of energy absorbers has been introduced to unleash design with the best crashworthiness behavior. Foam-filled structures are one of the promising designs. In this study, foam-filled structure was investigated to increase the energy absorption capability and reduce the initial peak force simultaneously. Since most foam-filled structures tend to absorb more energy with high peak force, optimization of the energy absorbers is significant in obtaining the optimum design. Response surface methodology (RSM) has been dominant technique in crashworthiness optimization mainly because of it provides efficient and accurate solution. This paper focused on the optimization foam-filled columns with respect to thickness of the tube and length of foam to enhance energy absorptions and reduce initial peak force. The optimization results suggested by Design Expert software for impact test is 515.9 J for EA and 134.94kN for IPF value with the column thickness of 2.0mm and foam length of 185mm. For quasi-static test, the optimum solution value for EA and IPF are 864.5J and 88.33kN respectively with column thickness of 1.87mm and foam length of 200mm.