Crash Behavior of Nested Tube Structures with Various Cross Sections

The purpose of this study is to examine the energy absorption characteristics of nested and concentric crash tubes with different cross sections under low velocity impact loading. They can be used as energy absorbers for the spacecraft vehicle to enhance crashworthiness under impact loads occurring during landing. Numerical analyses are performed by using LS-DYNA and the results are compared and discussed according to peak crash force, absorbed energy, deformations, folding mechanism, SEA and CFE values. As the number of corner is increased at the constant mass, the deformation of the tubes can be limited. Besides better crash force efficiency and lower peak forces are observed in the analyses of less cornered tubes.