Date of Award
5-2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Legacy Department
Mechanical Engineering
Committee Chair/Advisor
Biggers, Sherrill B
Abstract
Energy absorbers ideally remove kinetic energy efficiently and reliably while minimizing force magnitudes felt on the moving body. Until now, energy absorber design has concentrated on thin-walled prismatic tubes and tapered tubes. Sine wave beams (SWB) have been previously investigated as energy absorbers under lateral impacting situations only. This thesis investigates the energy absorption of the SWB under axial impact. FE models simulated the energy absorbing response of the SWB. Parametric analyses were performed using the structure's thickness, the web amplitude, and the period number of the web. The SWB's performance is evaluated and then compared to the prismatic structures. The force felt by the impacting body is less for each SWB than for any prismatic structure, when absorbing the same amount of kinetic energy. A larger number of design parameters in the SWB allow effective control over the crush deformation and resulting energy absorption than the prismatic absorbers.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Robert, "Energy Absorption of Sine Wave Beams Subjected to Axial Impact Loading" (2007). All Theses. 75.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/75