Energy absorption study of a new reinforced top-hat section beam under flexural loading

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Energy absorption study of a new reinforced top-hat section beam under flexural loading

Zahedan, Nima / Ahmadi, Hamed / Liaghat, GholamHossein

The aim of this study is to investigate the improvement in energy absorption of a top-hat profile hollow-section beam by attaching different shapes of internal reinforcements. The base structure of the beam was first considered as a hat shape structure which was jointed to a flat plate using spot-welds. Three types of sheet metal reinforcements were formed and attached inside the beam’s structure. Then, they were tested experimentally under quasi-static three-point bending loading condition. Also, these reinforced structures were numerically simulated using LS-DYNA explicit code. After the numerical simulation is validated using experimental data, some new cross-sections were proposed for reinforcing component, and the specimens’ performance were studied based on the total energy absorption and the specific energy absorption (SEA) parameters. Furthermore, the effects of different assembly methods, such as joint areas and arrangement of spot-welds, were numerically investigated in order to obtain the best configuration to manufacture the reinforced top-hat profile beam. The results for the best crashworthiness characteristics are presented, discussed, and commented upon.