Effects of hinges and deployment angle on the energy absorption characteristics of a single cell in a deployable energy absorber

Numerical simulation is carried out to investigate the crushing characteristics of a single cell in a fan-shaped deployable energy absorber (FDEA) under quasi-static axial loading. FDEA can effectively improve the crashworthiness behavior of aircrafts with the advantages of saving space and deploying actively. Hinges are added to the single cell to meet the need of fan-shaped deployment. The finite element model is established to study the effects of hinge's parameters, including material properties such as Young's modulus, yield strength and the tube thickness, on the single cell's energy absorption characteristics. The relationship between the deployment angle and the specific energy absorption (SEA) of the single cell is also studied. The numerical results indicate that the energy absorption increases rapidly as yield strength and the hinge's thickness increase, while it only has minor correlation with Young's modulus of the material. Three different modes of the cell appear during its axial crushing as the deployment angle increases. Besides, experiments were conducted to observe the crushing mode of the straight single cell, and the results are compared with the numerical simulation results. Finally, a theoretical model of a straight single cell with hinges is proposed to predict the mean crushing force, which is in good agreement with the numerical simulation.