Compact Energy Absorbing Structure: A Finite Element Study

Energy absorption is becoming a challenging issue in various applications. Progressively increasing demand of crash protection systems in the arena of public safety is advocating the need for more superior energy absorbing materials and structures to meet the stringent design requirements for alleviating the impact damages. In this paper, a novel structure is presented that absorbs the impact energy by undergoing a systematic stepwise crushing process that results in the mitigation of the impact damages. The structure´s geometry is observed in a banana peel that contains a graded cellular packing that allows the peel to protect the internal soft core from the external impacts. The structure is reproduced in a solid section and the energy absorbing characteristics of the section with and without the graded structure are studied by means of finite element simulations using ABAQUS. The graded section exhibits better energy absorbing characteristics over a solid section.