Energy absorption characteristics of a novel hierarchical cross tube under axial impact loading

A novel hierarchical cross tube (NHCT) is proposed, and the crashworthiness of a structure under axial impact is assessed by using a theoretically verified Abaqus/Explicit finite element model. The research results show that compared with a square tube (ST), the proposed NHCT has better energy absorption characteristics under the same mass and wall thickness conditions. Under the same mass conditions, when the peak crushing force (PCF) of the NHCT is basically unchanged, the energy absorption ratio of the ST is increased by 216% at the highest and 167% at the lowest. Under the same wall thickness conditions, the energy absorption of the NHCT is at most 14.22 times that of the ST. Subsequently, parametric research on the NHCT is systematically carried out to study the effects of order and wall thickness on structure crashworthiness. Finally, comparative crashworthiness research on NHCT3 and existing thin-walled hierarchical structures is carried out, and the research shows that the proposed NHCT has significant advantages in energy absorption.