Title: On the crumpling of thin plastic closed top-hat sections by compressive loading

Authors: A.G. Mamalis, D.E. Manolakos, G.L. Viegelahn, W. Johnson

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA. ' Potter Centre, Faculty of Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

Abstract: Inextensional collapse mechanisms useful for design purposes, are proposed for the compressive axial crumpling of closed top-hat sections. A thermo-plastic model material was employed for experimental study and theoretical collapse modes based on the experimental observations were used for predicting mean crushing loads. The latter were compared with those obtained experimentally and agreement was found to be satisfactory.

Keywords: axial crushing; buckling; closed top-hat sections; collapse mechanisms; compressive loading; component crumpling; thin plastic components; structural components; component design; vehicle design; thermoplastics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1988.061501

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1988 Vol.9 No.6, pp.675 - 686

Published online: 26 May 2014 *

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