Experimental and numerical investigation of the crushing response of an open section composite energy absorbing element

The quasi-static crushing response of carbon epoxy composite hat-shaped crush elements is described herein. A steeple-type triggering mechanism was used to ensure the specimens exhibited a continuous stable crushing mode of failure. The explicit finite element software PAM-CRASH was used to predict the crushing failure of these energy absorbing elements. A four-layer, stacked-shell model of the composite hat-shaped element, after calibration against experimental test data, was found to be capable of closely approximating the failure modes and provide agreement with the load vs. displacement behaviour observed during the experiments. The predicted steady state load and specific energy absorption were respectively within 1.5 and 0.2% of the experimental average. With further validation, the developed stacked-shell methodology could help provide a predictive tool to characterise the energy absorption of open section crush elements and significantly reduce the cost associated with an extensive experimental material characterisation test program.