Author(s)

M. Ali, A. Qamhiyah, D. Flugrad & M. Shakoor

Abstract

The increasing demand of superior energy absorbing structures and materials to meet the stringent design criteria and higher safety standards for confined operating spaces leads to the advent of efficient compact cellular structures. This paper presents a detailed study of an intelligent and compact graded cellular structure that alleviates the impact damage(s) by undergoing a controlled stepwise deformation process by wisely utilizing the stroke. The structure’s geometry is observed in the cross-section of a banana peel that has a specific graded cellular packing in a confined space. This packing enables the peel to protect the internal soft core from external impacts. The same cellular pattern is used to construct the structure. The energy absorbing characteristics of the structure are evaluated with respect to a solid section by means of non-linear finite element simulations using ABAQUS. The structure mitigates the dynamic collapse damage(s) and acts as an effective energy absorber over a solid section. Keywords: graded cellular structure, banana peel, collapse mechanism, plastic deformation, energy absorbers. 1 Introduction Energy absorbers are devices that convert kinetic energy into other forms e.g., pressure energy in fluids (e.g., varying cross-sectional area channels), elastic energy in deformable solids (e.g., springs), and combination of elastic and plastic energies in permanently deformable solids (e.g., sandwich panels). The primary objective of energy absorbers is to keep the reactive force below a threshold which will cause damage or injury. This objective is obtained by distributing the load over a long stroke. In other words, energy absorbers perform their function of reducing the load at the cost of long stroke and time. Other important characteristics of the energy absorbers include the irreversible impact energy

Keywords

graded cellular structure, banana peel, collapse mechanism, plastic deformation, energy absorbers.