Origami inspired design of thin walled tubular structures for impact loading

Thin walled structures find wide applications in automotive industry as energy absorption devices. A great deal of research has been conducted to design thin walled structures, where the main objective is to reduce peak crushing forces and increase energy absorption capacity. With the advancement of computers and mathematics, it has been possible to develop 2D patterns which when folded turn into complex 3D structures. This technology can be used to develop patterns for getting structures with desired properties.

In this study, square origami tubes with folding pattern (Yoshimura pattern) is designed and studied extensively using numerical analysis. An accurate Finite Element Model (FEM) is developed to conduct the numerical analysis. A parametric study was conducted to study the influence of geometric parameters on the mechanical properties like peak crushing force, mean crushing force, load uniformity and maximum intrusion, when subjected to dynamic loading.

The results from this analysis are studied and various conclusions are drawn. It is found that, when the tube is folded with the pattern having specific dimension, the performance is enhanced significantly, with predictable and stable collapse. It is also found that the stiffness of the module varies with geometrical parameters. With a proper study it is possible to develop origami structures with functionally graded stiffness, the performance of which can be tuned as per requirement, hence, showing promising capabilities as an energy absorption device where progressive collapse from near to end impact end is desired.