MODELING AND OPTIMIZATION OF ALUMINUM FOAM CYLINDRICAL DOUBLE TUBES UNDER AXIAL IMPACT

noDue to their high energy absorption and lightweight material, foam-filled metallic tubes\ud are used for vehicle structures to improve occupant safety and to reduce weight for fuel\ud consumption efficiency. This paper presents the optimization of the empty and foamfilled\ud double circular tubes under axial impact loading. In this work, both ends of a\ud circular tube were clamped, at the bottom as a boundary condition and at the top to\ud apply quasi-static force with respect to the longitudinal direction. The finite element\ud model was validated with experimental tests taken from the literature. Finite element\ud analysis and optimization design were combined to observe the crashworthiness of the\ud double tubes. The geometric dimensions, such as the diameter and thickness of the\ud tubes, were chosen as the design variables. The crush parameters, namely minimum\ud peak crushing force and maximum specific energy absorption, were calculated using the\ud non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II to obtain the Pareto optimal solution. The\ud radial basis function and factorial were calculated to formulate the objective and\ud variable functions. The results show that aluminum foam-filled double circular tubes\ud have more crashworthiness capability than empty tubes. The optimum values of the\ud foam-filled tubes were higher than the empty double cylindrical tubes (3.5%). Finally,\ud foam-filled double circular tubes can be recommended as the energy absorber in\ud automobiles