Out-of-Plane Crashworthiness of Buckling-Induced Hierarchical Quasi-Honeycomb

A novel quasi-honeycomb (buckling-induced hierarchical quasi-honeycomb, BIHQ) with buckling-induced features and hierarchical structure has been designed to improve the crashworthiness of honeycomb structures. Its crashworthiness and deformation patterns are investigated by finite element simulation. The crashworthiness of BIHQ is compared with that of other conventional honeycomb structures, as well as the crashworthiness of different hierarchical BIHQs. It was found that the crashworthiness of BIHQ was improved by introducing geometrical defects in BIHQ, which greatly reduced the initial peak force (IPF) of the structure and increased the specific energy absorption (SEA). In addition, hierarchical structures have significant potential to improve crashworthiness by improving the SEA of honeycomb structures, especially, the second-order BIHQ in particular shows substantial advantages for energy absorption efficiency. Finally, the effects of relevant parameters on their crashworthiness were investigated by parametric analysis. It was found that the crashworthiness could be improved by changing the parameters of BIHQ. In particular, by decreasing the size ratio parameter k or increasing the number of induced layers N, the IPF and increasing the crushing force efficiency (CFE) of BIHQ can be effectively reduced, thus improving the crashworthiness of the structure.