Influence of damage on the prediction of axial crushing behavior of thin-walled aluminum extruded tubes

Abstract In this paper, a new model is introduced to explain the cracked appearance and development observed in metallic tube energy absorbers when subjected to axial crash. Fracture can play an important role in the deformation mode and is intrinsically associated with energy absorption in such tubes. This paper illustrates the idea that the collapsed mode of metallic tubes and the associated energy absorption as well as the failure mode can be relatively simply modeled using an elastoplastic damage model. The chosen model is based on a classical Lemaitre-Chaboche uncoupled elastoplastic damage approach. The results of a series of experimental aluminum tube crashes are given and commented upon. The numerical simulations are then conducted using a standard finite element elastoplastic large strain analysis. It is shown that the failure mode obtained with this modeling does not fit with some of the experimental results; hence, the damage model is implemented and applied, and the resulting numerical simulat...