Crushing behaviors of novel Diabolo shaped honeycombs with enhanced energy absorption performance.

• A novel Diabolo shaped honeycomb based on re-entrant hexagonal honeycomb is proposed. • Four enhanced honeycombs are designed based on the Diabolo shaped honeycomb by adding horizontal or longitudinal ribs. • The simulation results show that Diabolo shaped honeycomb has better impact resistance and energy absorption than re-entrant hexagonal honeycomb. • The plateau stress and specific energy absorption of the honeycomb are significantly influenced by the geometric parameters. This paper presents the design of a novel Diabolo shaped honeycomb (DSH) based on re-entrant hexagonal honeycomb (RHH), and four enhanced honeycombs are designed based on the DSH by adding horizontal or longitudinal ribs. The finite element software ABAQUS/EXPLICIT is applied to investigate the relationship between crashworthiness and energy absorption performance with different impact velocities and geometric parameters. The simulation results show that DSH has better impact resistance and energy absorption than RHH. DSH has improved plateau stress by 141.3%, 78.7%, and 22.7% of low-velocity, medium-velocity, and high-velocity compression, respectively, and SEA by 103.7%, 79.3%, and 7.3%, respectively. In addition, the impact resistance of the four enhanced honeycombs is further improved. The shrinkage effect of DSH after impact is not as good as that of RHH, and the horizontal ribs suppress the negative Poisson's ratio property of the honeycomb. Different impact velocities affect the deformation pattern of the honeycomb. With the increase of impact velocities, the honeycomb has a transition from overall deformation to local deformation with increasing velocity. The plateau stress and specific energy absorption of the honeycomb are significantly influenced by the geometric parameters. This research provides a reference for the optimal design and application of honeycombs as energy absorbing components. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]