Quantum mechanics

Diamond

Engineering

Materials science

Computer security

Absorption (acoustics)

Folding (DSP implementation)

Kinetic energy

Computer science

Collision

Geology

Physics

Mathematics

Geometry

Composite material

Structural engineering

Programming language

Crash

Forensic engineering

Reduction (mathematics)

Crashworthiness

Hinge

Thin-Walled Structures

The crash box is a structural component which is widely used in transport vehicles. It is designed to collapse and absorb kinetic energy in a low-speed collision. In this paper, we present a family of new origami crash boxes with rectangular, polygonal cross sections, and tapered shapes, through pre-folding the surface of thin-walled tubes according to a set of developable origami patterns. We have demonstrated through quasi-static impact experiments and numerical simulation that these origami crash boxes collapse into a diamond-shaped mode with a doubled number of traveling plastic hinge lines. The proposed optimal design leads to a maximum increase of 107.1% in terms of the energy absorption per unit mass and a maximum reduction of 68.3% of the initial peak force when compared with the conventional crash box. The substantial gain in overall energy absorption and the decrease in peak reaction force makes the proposed origami patterns attractive for energy absorption applications.

Quasi-static impact of origami crash boxes with various profiles