The energy absorption of thin-walled tubes designed by origami approach applied to the ends

Abstract An origami crash box (OCB) has a desirable crashworthiness performance because it is inclined to deform in the diamond mode (DM) with a low initial peak force Fmax and high mean crushing force Fm. Theoretically, if an OCB whose shape approaches that of a conventional tube deforms in DM, the energy absorption will be the highest. Whereas, an OCB can deform in an undesirable incomplete diamond mode when its shape approaches that of a conventional tube. Additionally, the manufacture of OCBs is still complicated because it involves welding process. Therefore, a novel origami-ending tube (OET) is proposed in this paper. This OET was designed by introducing some small triangular origami patterns into the ends of the tube module, which greatly simplified the manufacturing process because it did not require welding. The validation experiments showed that the OET could deform in DM with a 46% reduction of Fmax and a 99% increase of Fm, compared to the conventional tube, even though the geometry of the OET was very close to that of a conventional tube. Combined with the results drawn from the validation experiments, parameters and comparison studies, it could be concluded that the OET performed better than the OCB.