Numerical Simulations of Flattening Process on Aluminum Open Sections

This research work studies energy absorption by aluminum open-sections with thin-walled square crosssection during the flattening process by numerical and experimental methods. For this purpose, two types of thinwalled open-sections with different geometries were produced by cutting process on thin-walled closed-section specimens that called types A and Q. Type A is a square open-section with straight lip length and type Q is a square open-section with triangular lip length. Firstly, closed and open-section specimens are laterally compressed between two rigid plates in the quasi-static condition. Then, numerical simulations of them are carried out by LS-DYNA software and the results are compared with the corresponding experimental results to calibrate the numerical simulations. Then, different types of thin-walled open sections are simulated by the LS-DYNA software and influences of specimen's geometry, lip length and loading velocity are investigated on energy absorption process through the numerical method.