Investigation of Energy Absorption Characteristics of Corrugated Multi-Cell Structures under Axial Compression

Thin-walled tubes are commonly used in energy-absorbing applications due to their efficient deformation behavior under compression. However, the conventional design of multi-cell tubes often limits their energy absorption capacity. This study investigates the energy absorption performance of corrugated multi-cell tubes (MTs) under axial compression, aiming to enhance their crashworthiness. The influence of corrugations and rib configurations on the deformation behavior and energy absorption of MTs is examined through experiments. The results highlight the role of corrugations and rib shapes in improving energy absorption and demonstrate that MTs with ‘O’- and ‘X’-shaped ribs significantly outperform other configurations. Under dynamic impact conditions, the MTs show improvements of up to 19.46% in mean crushing force (MCF) and 9.78% in specific energy absorption (SEA) compared to quasi-static conditions. These findings offer valuable insights for the design of high-performance corrugated multi-cell structures in impact scenarios.