Axial Compression Behavior of Mild Steel Tubes with Different Configurations Under Dynamic Loading Condition

This study presents the influence of geometric configurations in wall thickness of circular tube on the energy absorption and the axial deformation behavior under the dynamic loading condition. The three-dimensional numerical computations were carried out on ABAQUS/Explicit solver to study the effect of different wall thicknesses with monolithic and double layered configurations on the energy absorption and the axial shortening of the mild steel tubes subjected to the projectile impact. A circular tube of 60 mm diameter with varying wall thicknesses having monolithic and double layered configurations were axially impacted by a 5 kg projectile. The circular tubes with monolithic wall thicknesses (1.1, 1.5 and 2 mm) and the double layered wall thicknesses (0.55, 0.75 and 1.0 mm each) had the equivalent wall thickness, cross-sectional area, volume, total length (200 mm), and material. The Johnson–Cook elasto–viscoplastic model was used to model the flow and fracture behavior of the mild steel. The axial compression of the double layered circular tube was found higher than monolithic circular tube for each wall thickness. In the investigated geometric configurations, the axial deformation of 60 mm circular tubes decreased with an increase in the wall thickness however, no significant effect on the absorbed energy was observed due to variation in the wall thickness.