Impact response of expanded metal tubes: A numerical investigation

Expanded metal tubes are economic and have great capacity for plastic deformation, what makes them suitable as energy absorbers in impact situations. This paper aims at investigating the impact response of expanded metal tubes subjected to axial crushing. A parametric analysis was performed using a central composite design (CCD) for design of experiments (DOE) techniques and a finite element modeling. Then, the influence of the expanded metal geometry, impact velocity, and material yield stress are investigated in depth. Results show that an increase in the size of the expanded metal cells leads to an enhancement in both, the mean and the peak load. Finally the main outcome of this investigation is to provide information regarding the use of expanded metal tubes in the design of impact attenuation devices.