Design and analysis of a composite energy-absorbing structure for use on railway vehicles

Safety during railway vehicle collisions requires an excellent energy-absorbing ability of the structures of trains. In this paper, a new composite energy-absorbing structure is designed by combining the characteristics of a thin-walled metal structure and an aluminum honeycomb structure. A finite element model of the energy-absorbing structure is created using mechanical properties of the honeycomb structures simulated using material equivalent models. Structures with three types of aluminum honeycomb (honeycombs 1, 2 and 3, respectively) and without a honeycomb are numerically assessed. The results indicate that the entire structure generates an orderly deformation of the structure using the designed energy-absorbing system. The larger the extent of the plateau stress of the honeycomb, the greater is its contribution to the total energy dissipation of the entire structure. For the three energy-absorbing structures, honeycombs 1, 2 and 3, the energy absorbed by the honeycomb structure accounts for 18.03, 19.86 and 27.40 % of the total energy dissipation, respectively. The total energy dissipation of the energy-absorbing structure is also improved with an increase of the plateau stress of the honeycomb structure.