MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES

https://doi.org/10.1080/15376494.2024.2387738

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Crashworthiness analysis of bio-inspired hierarchical multi-cell circular tubes

under axial crushing
Zhenzhen Cai and Xiaolin Deng
School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Wuzhou University, Wuzhou, China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Drawing inspiration from nature’s hierarchical organization, we propose a novel bio-inspired hier­ Received 28 April 2024
archical multi-cellular circular tubes (BHMC) with a fractal structure. Using an experimentally vali­ Accepted 30 July 2024
dated LS-DYNA finite element model, we investigated the impact resistance of this structure
KEYWORDS
under axial loading. Numerical analysis was conducted to explore the energy absorption perform­
Crashworthiness; hierarch­
ance of BHMC tubes with varying numbers of branches, fractal orders, and tube masses. The ical; energy absorption; thin
numerical findings indicate that specific energy absorption (SEA) increases with higher numbers of wall structure
fractal orders. Specifically, the SEA of 2nd order BHMC tubes surpasses that of conventional multi­
cellular circular and single-layer tubes by approximately 35.07% and 17.10%, respectively. Optimal
performance is achieved with the proposed structure featuring tree branching (N ¼ 6) and 2nd
order fractal characteristics, yielding the highest specific absorption energy across different param­
eters. These results offer valuable insights for designing multicellular bilayer tubes with superior
energy absorption efficiency, providing an effective guideline for structural optimization.

1. Introduction inspired by bamboo, employing finite element methods to

simulate its behavior under various loading conditions.
Honeycomb [1, 2] and filled energy-absorbing structures [3]
Comparisons with classic bamboo-inspired structures and a
have been widely reported and developed for their excellent
conventional circular tube revealed superior specific energy
energy-absorbing properties. In addition to this, as a cost- absorption, compression efficiency, and deformation modes.
effective solution with high energy-absorption capabilities, Drawing inspiration from lotus leaf macro- and microscopic
thin-walled energy-absorbing structures find widespread use structures, Liu et al. [12] proposed biomimetic hierarchical
across various industries including automotive, marine, thin-walled structures with enhanced mechanical properties.
aerospace, and rail transportation. These structures primarily Increasing bifurcation structures at the end of thin tube
dissipate and absorb energy through mechanisms such as branches significantly improved torsional resistance. Ma and
plastic deformation, fracture, and other forms of damage, Tian [13] developed a hybrid multi-cell structure with
showcasing excellent energy-absorbing properties. Thin- square and circular sections based on beetle forewing micro­
walled structures come in a variety of shapes, including structures, demonstrating improved mechanical properties
circular tubes [4], corrugated tubes [5], square tubes [6], compared to traditional multi-cell tubes. Inspired by the
star-shaped tubes [7], and multi-cellular tubes [8], among unique microstructure of the horse-hoof-wall and the con­
others, each offering unique advantages. Previous studies cept of vertex-based hierarchy, Ma et al. [14] introduced a
have highlighted the close relationship between cross- bio-inspired corrugated tube and derivative structures with
sectional shape and energy absorption efficiency [9, 10], varying vertex configurations, confirming their excellent
with energy-absorbing devices exhibiting significant varia­ crashworthiness performance, particularly in terms of weight
tions in performance based on their cross-sectional shapes. force efficiencies. Zhang et al. [15] applied hierarchical con­
Organisms in nature have evolved a diverse array of cepts from biological structures to thin-walled circular tubes,
impact resistance strategies and self-defense mechanisms achieving significant improvements in specific energy
through natural selection, adapting to complex environmen­ absorption of up to 102% with appropriate configurations.
tal conditions over time. These natural bio-defense systems The aforementioned studies demonstrate that biomimetic
exhibit exceptional impact resistance and energy dissipation designs can significantly enhance energy absorption capabil­
efficiency, surpassing ordinary engineering protective struc­ ities. To further improve the energy absorption of multi-cell
tures. Consequently, numerous scholars have reported on tubes, alternative methods based on geometrical modifica­
the development of bionic energy-absorbing structure tions have been proposed, such as incorporating functionally
designs inspired by these mechanisms. For instance, Zhou graded thickness [16] and layered designs [17]. Some hier­
et al. [11] designed a novel thin-walled multi-cell structure archical structures, similar to the one depicted in Figure 1,

CONTACT Xiaolin Deng [email protected] School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Wuzhou University, Wuzhou, China.
� 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 1. (a) Hierarchical structures of bone, (b) cross-section of wheat’s structures shows graded cell sizes [33] and (c) hierarchical graded structures of the antlers.

have exhibited exceptional energy absorption properties. For circular tubes outperformed square and hexagonal tubes in
example, Zhang et al. [18] introduced a side fractal design terms of energy absorption [27]. Recent research has
to triangular, square, and hexagonal cross-section tubes. explored seeded dendritic fractal multicellular tubes, as dis­
Numerical results revealed that the side fractal design effect­ cussed by Ha et al. [28, 29], revealing their significant
ively enhanced crashworthiness performance compared to potential for energy absorption. Gao et al. [30] investigated
structures lacking fractals. Additionally, Tsang et al. [19] the hexagonal hierarchical structure, while our previous
simulated the softness and toughness properties of muscle studies have proposed a range of gradient hierarchical multi­
tissue using TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) material. cellular tubes, including multicellular columns [31], and bio-
They then fabricated samples via 3D printing and conducted inspired hierarchical gradient multicell tubes [32]. These
quasi-static compression experiments. Results demonstrated studies confirmed the substantial advantages of gradient
a remarkable 172% improvement in energy absorption for hierarchical structures in energy absorption. It is evident
the third order layered structure compared to the first order. that hierarchical design holds promise for enhancing the
In another study, Li et al. [20] developed triangular, quad­ crashworthiness of thin-walled structures, representing a
rangular, and hexagonal side hierarchical structures. They viable target for future energy absorbers. However, despite
further investigated the energy absorption of these structures the review of typical and bionic methods, literature lacks
under oblique loads through numerical simulations. The reports on fractal designs of multicellular circular structures.
results revealed that the energy absorption of the 7th order Therefore, drawing inspiration from Gao et al. [30] and Ha
triangular hierarchical structure was 112% higher than that et al. [23], this study proposes a novel bionic hierarchical
of the nonhierarchical triangular column under axial impact. structure, named bio-inspired hierarchical multi-cell circular
Gao et al. [21] proposed two hierarchical multi-cell hex­ tubes (BHMC), mimicking the natural fractal structure.
agonal tubes, HMHA and HMHB, with different hierarchical
topologies. They theoretically derived the average impact
force of HMHA-3 tubes, showing that the specific energy 2. Materials and methods
absorption of HMHA and HMHB tubes increased by 122% 2.1. Geometry
and 142%, respectively, compared to a single hexagonal tube
of the same mass. Xu et al. [22] introduced a novel self- Figure 2 displays the cross sections of BHMCs featuring
similar hierarchical hexagonal column (HHC). Their find­ three distinct shapes alongside reference circular tubes (CT).
ings indicated that this self-similar hierarchical structure The 1st and 2nd order BHMC tubes were crafted using a
significantly improves the crashworthiness of thin-walled hierarchical structure concept, implementing a bionic
energy-absorbing structures. Specifically, the energy absorp­ approach to internal branching from the 0th order BHMC.
tion of the second order HHC was 289% higher than that of In this investigation, the tubes’ diameter (D) and height (H)
the nonhierarchical structure of the 0th order hexagonal col­ were consistently set at 80 mm and 120 mm, respectively.
umn with the same mass. Ha et al. [23] proposed bio- However, the wall thicknesses of tubes with varying BHMC
inspired hierarchical multi-cell square tubes based on the hierarchies were adjusted to maintain uniform total mass
gradient structure of bamboo. They confirmed that these across all tubes. Previous research [31] indicated that hier­
bio-inspired hierarchical multi-cell square tubes outper­ archical multicellular tubes with axisymmetric cross-sections
formed conventional square tubes and multi-cell square exhibit stable deformation patterns under axial loading.
tubes, with a maximum increase in specific energy absorp­ Consequently, 0th order BHMC tubes with varying numbers
tion of 173.7% and 128.1%, respectively. Furthermore, of primitive branches (N ¼ 4, 6, 8, and 10) were examined,
various other hierarchical structures, including bionic thin- with the wall thickness of each tube outlined in Table 1.
walled tubes [24], spider-web bionic hierarchical honeycomb
[25], double-gradient hierarchical hexagonal tubes [26], and
2.2. Finite element model
others, have also been widely reported.
As previously mentioned, multi-cell tubes can feature The finite element model was constructed and analyzed
various cross-sectional shapes, such as square, hexagonal, or using LS-DYNA R11.0, with the assembled model depicted
bellow tubes. Notably, a prior study demonstrated that in Figure 3. This model comprises two rigid plates
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 3

Figure 2. Example of the BHMC tube cross-sections with two numbers of branches: (a) N ¼ 6 and (b) N ¼ 8.

Table 1. Thickness and mass of various BHMC tubes. multicellular tube, while the “AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_
Thickness (mm) SURFACE” contact algorithm handles self-contact within
Fractal Mass
Group order (g) N¼4 N¼6 N¼8 N ¼ 10 the multicellular tube during impact, utilizing a friction
Group 1 0th order 85 0.638 0.534 0.460 0.403 coefficient of 0.2 [35]. To ensure that the moving and fixed
1st order 0.406 0.333 0.281 0.241 plates remain undeformed throughout the simulation, they
2nd order 0.297 0.242 0.202 0.172
Group 2 0th order 125 0.938 0.786 0.676 0.593 are modeled using MAT_RIGID (MAT_20). The multicellu­
1st order 0.597 0.490 0.412 0.355 lar tube is simulated using a Belytschko–Tsay four-node
2nd order 0.437 0.356 0.297 0.253 simplified shell cell (S4R), employing five integration points
Group 3 0th order 165 1.239 1.038 0.892 0.782
1st order 0.787 0.646 0.544 0.468 along the thickness of the cell to ensure convergence.
2nd order 0.576 0.469 0.392 0.334 A mesh sensitivity analysis was conducted to optimize
Group 4 0th order 205 1.540 1.288 1.108 0.972
1st order 0.978 0.803 0.676 0.582
the mesh size, using the 1st order BHMC with N ¼ 6 as an
2nd order 0.716 0.583 0.486 0.415 example for analysis. Mesh sizes ranging from 0.8 mm to
2.0 mm (0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8 and 2.0 mm) were tested.
Figure 4 illustrates the force–displacement curves of the 1st
order BHMC tube with different mesh sizes. The shape of
the force–displacement curve remains consistent across var­
iations in mesh size. However, there are discernible differen­
ces in energy absorption among the structures. As the mesh
size decreases, the energy absorption gradually converges.
Specifically, when the mesh size is reduced to 1.0 mm, the
differences in energy absorption and initial peak force com­
pared to a 0.8 mm mesh are 0.75% and 0.14%, respectively.
It is worth noting that smaller mesh sizes require longer
computational time. Therefore, to optimize computational
resources, a mesh size of 1 mm was selected for all subse­
quent investigations.

Figure 3. Finite element model.

2.3. Energy absorption characteristic parameters

positioned at the upper and lower ends, with a multicellular In order to quantitatively examine the energy absorption
tube situated between them. During simulation, the upper characteristics of BHMC tubes, several key parameters are
plate is subjected to a vertical impact with a fixed velocity of used in this study: initial peak crushing force (IPCF), energy
10 m/s [34]. Conversely, the lower rigid plate is constrained, absorption (EA), specific energy absorption (SEA), mean
firmly securing the multicellular tube in place, with all crushing force (MCF), and crushing force efficiency (CFE).
degrees of freedom of the lower plate being simultaneously The IPCF is the peak force at the beginning of the impact
constrained. The length of the multicellular tube remains process. The EA represents the ability of the structure to
constant at 120 mm, while the impact distance is set at 75% absorb energy during the impact process and is usually cal­
of the original length, equivalent to 90 mm. For the finite culated from the area under the force–displacement curve
element model, two contact algorithms are employed. The and they can be represented as shown in Figure 5, where d
“AUTOMATIC_NODES_TO_SURFACE” contact algorithm is the impact distance and F(x) is the instantaneous impact
manages the interaction between the rigid plate and the force, m is the mass of the tubes.
4 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 4. Test results for different mesh sizes: (a) energy absorption and initial peak crushing force and (b) force–displacement curves.

experimental results. Consequently, the finite element model

established by this method is deemed entirely reliable, mak­
ing it suitable for subsequent simulation and analysis.

3. Numerical results and discussions

3.1. Effect of number of branches (N)
The force–displacement curves and energy absorption curves
for various numbers of branches are illustrated in Figure 8.
Observing Figure 8, it becomes apparent that the force–dis­
placement curves of different BHMCs exhibit similar trends.
Initially, they undergo significant elastic deformation upon
impact, marked by an initial peak force, followed by plastic
deformation. The influence of the number of branches on
the initial peak force is minor, with BHMCs of different
Figure 5. Typical force–displacement curve of axial gradient thin-walled tube.
orders and branch numbers showing similar initial peak
forces. Subsequently, the force gradually decreases, then
2.4. Verification
increases, and eventually enters the densification stage when
In this study, aluminum alloy Al-6063-T5 was utilized for compressed to around 80%. Notably, BHMCs with a higher
the proposed tubes, with the following material properties: number of branches experience less shock during impact,
density ¼ 2700 kg/m3, Young’s modulus E ¼ 70 GPa, exhibiting smaller up and down fluctuations. This is attribu­
Poisson’s ratio � ¼ 0.33, yield stress ry ¼ 72.57 MPa, and ted to the increased number of branches producing a more
ultimate stress ru ¼ 125.53 MPa. To simulate the large regular progressive folding deformation pattern, despite the
deformation observed during the crushing process, the reduction in wall thickness of the BHMC tubes. This fuller
standard elastic–plastic constitutive model with strain hard­ plastic deformation resists further deformation more effect­
ening was employed. Figure 6 presents the engineering stress ively, resulting in more energy dissipation through plastic
and plastic strain data. Notably, due to the strain rate deformation. Regarding the energy absorption curve, the 0th
insensitivity of Al-6063-T5, the simulation did not account order BHMC with N ¼ 4 exhibits the highest energy absorp­
for strain rate dependence. tion. For N ¼ 6, the energy absorption of 1st and 2nd order
The circular pipe used for testing the finite element BHMC tubes is the greatest, accompanied by more folding.
model has a diameter of 70 mm, a height of 80 mm, and a However, beyond N ¼ 6, the energy absorption remains sta­
wall thickness of 1.1 mm. The compression velocity applied ble or slightly decreases. Thus, it appears that a higher
is 0.5 m/s. Figure 7 presents the simulated and experimental branching number does not necessarily enhance the energy
force–displacement curves, energy absorption curves, and absorption of the structure. Optimal branching numbers are
deformation pattern diagrams of the circular pipe. As more conducive to ensuring the energy absorption charac­
depicted in Figure 7(a,b), there is a high degree of agree­ teristics of the BHMC. When N ¼ 10, the energy absorption
ment between the simulated and experimental force–dis­ decreases, primarily due to the relatively thin wall thickness
placement curves and energy absorption curves. At a of the thin-walled structure, leading to a more complex pro­
compression of 56 mm, the difference in energy absorption gressive deformation mode during impact. Overall, the 1st
between the two is only 0.46%. Additionally, the deform­ and 2nd order BHMCs seem less affected by the number of
ation pattern observed in the finite element simulation of branches compared to the 0th order BHMCs. Increasing the
the circular tube (Figure 7(c)) closely resembles the number of branches does not consistently improve the
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 5

Figure 6. Material properties tensile test and engineering stress-strain curve: (a) the dimensions of samples [36], (b) universal material experiment machine and
(c) the engineering stress-strain curves of AA6063-T5.

Figure 7. FE Model validation: comparison of experimental and numerical: (a) force–displacement, (b) energy absorption and (c) compression process.

energy absorption effect. Thus, it appears that the 0th order in Figure 9. SEA, representing the ratio of EA to mass, is
BHMC with N ¼ 4 and the 1st and 2nd order BHMCs with compared among different numbers of branches in Figure
N ¼ 4 or 6 exhibit superior energy absorption properties. 9(a). Both SEA and EA initially increase and then decrease
The impact of the number of branches on the crash­ with the increase of the number of branches. This trend is
worthiness of BHMC tubes with the same mass is illustrated clearly depicted in Figure 9(b). Notably, the length of the
6 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 8. Force–displacement curves and energy absorption curves of BHMCs with different branches for group 2: (a) 0th order BHMC, (b) 1st order BHMC and (c)
2nd order BHMC.

outer section of the BHMC tube with N ¼ 6 exceeds that of for the 2nd order BHMC tube at N ¼ 8 compared to the
the tube with N ¼ 8 BHMC. However, due to the substantial 2nd order BHMC tube at N ¼ 6. Specifically, at N ¼ 6, the
difference in the lengths of the inner web and the outer sec­ SEA of the 2nd order BHMC reaches a maximum of
tion of the tube (N ¼ 8), the deformed shapes of the outer 11.13 kJ/kg, while the lowest SEA for the 2nd order BHMC
section and the inner web of the tube may be less stable for (N ¼ 10) is only 9.83 kJ/kg, representing a maximum
the BHMC tube with N ¼ 8 compared to the BHMC tube enhancement of 13.22%. Figure 9(b) depicts how the initial
with N ¼ 6. Consequently, this leads to a slightly lower SEA peak crushing force of BHMCs of different orders decreases
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 7

Figure 9. Crashworthiness performance of the BHMCs in group 2: (a) SEA, (b) IPCF, (c) MCF and (d) CFE.

with increasing N. Notably, the 1st and 2nd order BHMCs 10, higher-order BHMCs generate more force and exhibit
exhibit a more rapid decrease compared to the 0th order smoother behavior during the impact process. Figure 11
BHMC. For instance, as N increases from 6 to 8, the IPCF illustrates the energy absorption of the BHMCs, showing
of the 1st order BHMC decreases from 31.5 kN to 31.25 kN, that energy absorption increases with higher orders, with
a reduction of 0.8%. Similarly, with N increasing from 4 to the 2nd order BHMC exhibiting the best energy absorption.
6, the IPCF of the 2nd order BHMC decreases from Figure 12 provides the deformation patterns of BHMCs of
31.13 kN to 30.91 kN, a decline of 0.71%. As previously dis­ different orders during the densification stage. It is evident
cussed, this phenomenon primarily occurs because the that BHMCs with higher orders produce more regular
increase in N reduces the wall thickness of the BHMC, asymptotic folding deformation patterns. Consequently,
resulting in smoother fluctuations. Consequently, the IPCF BHMCs with higher orders demonstrate superior energy
decreases with increasing N. Notably, the 2nd order BHMC absorption properties. Conversely, BHMCs with lower
achieves both higher SEA and lower IPCF, meeting the orders (e.g. N ¼ 4) exhibit poorer energy absorption due to
requirements for crashworthiness. In Figure 9(c), the mean overall localized expansion deformation resulting in fewer
crushing force of BHMC is depicted. It can be observed that folds. Higher-order BHMCs produce more stable deform­
the trend of MCF mirrors that of SEA, with both initially ation patterns with more complete and regular folds.
increasing with N and then decreasing. Specifically, the Overall, an increase in order enhances the impact resistance
MCF of the 2nd order BHMC is the largest at N ¼ 6. Figure of the BHMC, with order positively impacting the energy
9(d) illustrates the crushing force efficiency of the BHMC. absorption of the structure.
Although, IPCF is lower with larger N, CFE is influenced by To provide a clearer and more intuitive understanding of
both MCF and IPCF. Notably, the CFE of BHMC is higher the difference in energy absorption among BHMCs of differ­
when N ¼ 6, with a maximum of 50.01% at N ¼ 6. ent orders, Figure 13 depicts the count of folded flaps in the
compressed final state for each BHMC order. From Figure
13, it is evident that the 2nd order BHMC exhibits more
3.2. Effect of hierarchical order
folds with shorter wavelengths compared to the 1st and 0th
The force–displacement curves of BHMCs of different order BHMCs. For instance, when N ¼ 6, the 0th order
orders throughout the impact are presented in Figure 10. BHMC shows 3–4 folds, the 1st order BHMC exhibits 6–7
These curves vary for BHMCs with different orders while folds, and the 2nd order BHMC displays 10–11 folds. The
ensuring the same mass (m ¼ 165 g). As depicted in Figure number of folds increases with the order. Additionally,
8 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 10. Force–displacement curves of the BHMCs for group 3: (a) N ¼ 4, (b) N ¼ 6, (c) N ¼ 8 and (d) N ¼ 10.

although the tube with N ¼ 10 produces more folds than 2nd order BHMC) and hits a low of 40.73% (N ¼ 10, 0th
tubes with other branch numbers, the folds are less regular order BHMC). As for IPCF, Figure 14(b) indicates an almost
compared to those produced by other tubes. This is primar­ linear decrease with increasing order. The highest IPCF is
ily because a large and dense number of branches result in 42.17 kN (N ¼ 4, 0th order BHMC), while the lowest is
shorter outer segment lengths of the BHMC tubes, particu­ 40.42 kN (N ¼ 10, 2nd order BHMC). This suggests that
larly at higher orders, leading to irregular deformation pat­ introducing a layered structure into a multicellular circular
terns. Consequently, the energy absorption and specific tube reduces IPCF. The trend in IPCF can be elucidated by
energy absorption of the 2nd order BHMCs decrease instead the ultimate buckling load induced by initial tube buckling,
of increasing with N ¼ 10. Therefore, BHMCs with a high which is related to flow stress (r0 ) and cross-sectional area
number of branches are more prone to locally unstable (A). Since the material and cross-sectional area remain con­
deformation modes and incomplete fold generation as the sistent across the tubes in this study, IPCF variations are
order increases. This abnormal deformation pattern minimal. Figure 14(c) displays the MCF of BHMC tubes
adversely affects energy absorption and specific energy with different layer orders and branch numbers, showing an
absorption, impacting the structural design for increase with higher layer orders. Particularly noteworthy is
crashworthiness. the 34.77% increase in MCF of 2nd order BHMC tubes
The crashworthiness data of BHMC at different orders compared to 0th order BHMC tubes when N ¼ 6. This trend
are presented in Figure 14, illustrating a positive correlation aligns with previous observations, attributed to the forma­
between order and energy absorption. Higher orders corres­ tion of shorter wavelength flaps with increasing order,
pond to greater energy absorption in the tube. Under identi­ enhancing tube deformation stability. For tubes with the
cal mass conditions, the changes in all three energy same number of branches (e.g. N ¼ 6), the SEA, MCF, and
absorption properties-SEA, MCF, and CFE-exhibit similar CFE of 2nd order BHMC tubes see improvements of
trends, increasing with order. In Figure 14(a), the highest 31.46%, 31.55%, and 35.68%, respectively, compared to 0th
SEA of BHMC tubes is recorded at 12.87 kJ/kg (N ¼ 6, 2nd order BHMC tubes. Notably, the SEA of N ¼ 4 BHMC tubes
order BHMC), while the lowest is 9.33 kJ/kg (N ¼ 10, 0th sees less significant improvement when introducing a lay­
order BHMC). Similarly, the CFE peaks at 57.91% (N ¼ 6, ered structure. This is because, in 0th order N ¼ 4 BHMC
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 9

Figure 11. Energy absorption curves of the BHMCs for group 3: (a) N ¼ 4, (b) N ¼ 6, (c) N ¼ 8 and (d) N ¼ 10.

Figure 12. Deformation shape of the group 3 BHMCs at the densification stage.

tubes, the length of outer segments is substantially larger lengths. Consequently, the improvement in SEA is less pro­
than branch lengths, leading to unstable tube deformation nounced for N ¼ 4 compared to N ¼ 6, 8, and 10. Figure 15
modes. Increasing hierarchical order enhances tube deform­ illustrates the variation of SEA and CFE with order, showing
ation stability and SEA due to decreased outer segment higher values for 2nd order BHMC. This analysis suggests
10 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 13. Sectional views of representative lobes folding of BHMCs: (a) N ¼ 4, (b) N ¼ 6, (c) N ¼ 8 and (d) N ¼ 10.
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 11

Figure 14. Crashworthiness performance of the BHMCs in group 3: (a) SEA, (b) IPCF, (c) MCF and (d) CFE.

Figure 15. SEA and CFE of the BHMCs with different N and mass: SEA and CFE of the BHMC increase when the hierarchical order increases.

that increasing the order of thin-walled structures is an Figure 16 that the force–displacement curve of the tube with
effective means to enhance structural crashworthiness. a larger mass is always located above the one with a smaller
mass. The energy absorption curves of BHMCs of different
orders also increase almost linearly with the increasing mass
3.3. Effect of tube mass on energy absorption
of the tube. The mass has a positive contribution to the
In this section, the energy absorption characteristics of tubes energy absorption of the tube.
with different masses are discussed. As an example, the 0th The energy absorption properties of BHMC tubes with
order BHMC, 1st order BHMC, and 2nd order BHMC with different masses and numbers of branches were calculated
N ¼ 6 have masses of 85, 125, 165, and 205 g, respectively. and presented in Table 2. To validate the analysis of the
Figure 16 shows the force–displacement curves and energy effect of mass on the energy absorption of BHMC tubes,
absorption curves for different masses. It can be observed in Figure 17 shows the energy absorption properties of BHMC
12 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 16. Force–displacement curves and energy absorption curves of BHMCs with different mass: (a) 0th order BHMC, (b) 1st order BHMC and (c) 2nd order
BHMC.

tubes with different masses. All the crashworthiness metrics thickness of the tube and improves its axial impact resist­
increase rapidly with the increasing mass of the tube. This is ance. Unlike Ha et al. [29], for the proposed BHMC struc­
because the increase in mass directly enhances the wall ture, the 2nd order BHMC with N ¼ 6 has the highest SEA,
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 13

Table 2. Crashworthiness performance of the BHMCs.

Mass (g) N Fractal order IPCF (kN) MCF (kN) CFE (%) EA (J) SEA (kJ/kg)
Group 1 85 4 0th order 21.61 6.40 29.62 576.11 6.78
1st order 21.45 7.03 32.76 632.51 7.44
2nd order 21.12 7.75 36.71 697.76 8.21
6 0th order 21.57 6.42 29.76 577.71 6.80
1st order 21.30 6.39 29.98 574.67 6.76
2nd order 20.97 8.27 39.42 744.01 8.75
8 0th order 21.61 6.36 29.42 572.27 6.73
1st order 21.25 6.67 31.40 600.49 7.06
2nd order 20.93 7.80 37.26 701.93 8.26
10 0th order 21.54 6.61 30.70 595.07 7.00
1st order 21.13 6.44 30.46 579.29 6.82
2nd order 20.84 7.38 35.41 664.09 7.81
Group 2 125 4 0th order 31.90 11.93 37.39 1073.42 8.59
1st order 31.55 12.44 39.42 1119.32 8.95
2nd order 31.13 14.82 47.61 1333.97 10.67
6 0th order 31.89 11.45 35.91 1030.66 8.25
1st order 31.50 12.83 40.73 1154.65 9.24
2nd order 30.91 15.46 50.01 1391.22 11.13
8 0th order 31.77 11.09 34.91 998.25 7.99
1st order 31.25 12.25 39.19 1102.22 8.82
2nd order 30.79 14.66 47.61 1319.34 10.55
10 0th order 31.67 11.19 35.33 1007.02 8.06
1st order 31.16 11.62 37.28 1045.55 8.36
2nd order 30.63 13.65 44.56 1228.52 9.83
Group 3 165 4 0th order 42.17 18.52 43.92 1666.91 10.11
1st order 41.82 19.51 46.66 1756.19 10.64
2nd order 41.02 22.37 54.54 2013.44 12.21
6 0th order 42.04 17.94 42.68 1614.90 9.79
1st order 41.61 19.53 46.93 1757.38 10.65
2nd order 40.76 23.60 57.91 2124.31 12.87
8 0th order 42.01 17.17 40.87 1545.01 9.36
1st order 41.21 19.23 46.67 1730.78 10.49
2nd order 40.63 23.14 56.96 2082.80 12.62
10 0th order 41.99 17.10 40.73 1539.18 9.33
1st order 41.14 18.01 43.79 1621.22 9.83
2nd order 40.42 21.33 52.76 1919.26 11.63
Group 4 205 4 0th order 54.29 27.79 51.19 2501.05 12.20
1st order 51.84 27.31 52.68 2457.92 11.99
2nd order 51.11 31.29 61.21 2815.68 13.74
6 0th order 52.27 25.39 48.58 2285.47 11.15
1st order 52.00 27.30 52.51 2457.40 11.99
2nd order 50.64 32.45 64.08 2920.41 14.25
8 0th order 52.12 24.80 47.58 2231.72 10.89
1st order 51.29 26.89 52.43 2420.35 11.81
2nd order 50.33 31.70 62.99 2853.17 13.92
10 0th order 52.08 24.88 47.78 2239.39 10.92
1st order 51.12 25.66 50.20 2309.71 11.27
2nd order 50.19 30.77 61.31 2769.28 13.51

indicating that different layers of the structure are affected BHMC in the platform stage, the energy absorption of
by the number of ribs to varying degrees. BHMC increases rapidly in the late stage of the impact. This
indicates that BHMC tubes exhibit superior energy absorp­
tion capacity compared to other multicellular structures. To
4. Comparison with the conventional circular tube
further illustrate the advantages of the bionic approach in
In order to showcase the excellent energy absorption cap­ BHMC tubes, the detailed energy absorption characteristics
acity of BHMC tubes, their energy absorption properties of these structures were calculated at an extrusion distance
were compared with other available multicellular tubes, of 90 mm and summarized in Table 3. The specific energy
including conventional multicellular tubes (CMT), conven­ absorption of the different tubes is depicted in Figure 18(b),
tional circular tubes (CT), and bionic multicellular tubes: where the SEA of the BHMC tube is 12.67 kJ/kg, marking
gradient branch circular tubes (GBCT-L3) [37], Multi-cell an increase of 35.07%, 17.10%, 0.72%, and 25.32% compared
tubes with two and three cells (MCT) [38], all with the to that of the CMT, CT, GBCT-L3, and MCT tubes, respect­
same mass (m ¼ 150 g). Figure 18(a) displays the force–dis­ ively. Additionally, the deformation pattern end-state dia­
placement curves of the BHMC tubes and other multicellu­ gram in Figure 19 illustrates that the BHMC exhibits a more
lar tubes under axial loading. It is observed that while the regular progressive folding deformation than the other
impact force of GBCT-L3 is slightly higher than that of multicellular tubes, leading to superior energy absorption.
14 Z. CAI AND X. DENG

Figure 17. Crashworthiness performance of the BHMCs: (a) SEA, (b) IPCF, (c) MCF and (d) CFE.

Figure 18. Force–displacement curves of the BHMC tube and other tubes.

Table 3. Energy absorption characteristics of the BHMC tube and the other multi-cell tubes under axial loading.
Tubes Mass (g) Thickness (mm) IPCF (kN) MCF (kN) CFE (%) EA (J) SEA (kJ/kg)
2nd order BHMC 150 0.429 37.28 21.12 56.65 1900.77 12.67
CMC 150 0.943 38.23 15.63 40.88 1406.48 9.38
CT 150 1.843 46.45 18.03 38.82 1623.05 10.82
GBCT-L3 150 0.548 37.08 20.96 56.54 1886.71 12.58
MCT 150 0.727 38.01 16.85 44.34 1516.84 10.11
 MECHANICS OF ADVANCED MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES 15

Figure 19. Deformation shape of the BHMC tube and other tubes at the densification stage.

5. Conclusions Disclosure statement

A novel bionic hierarchical structure, bio-inspired hierarch­ No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ical multi-cell circular tubes (BHMC), mimicking natural
fractal structures, is proposed. The crashworthiness of
Data and code availability
BHMC was systematically investigated using an experimen­
tally validated finite element method, leading to the follow­ The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current
ing conclusions: study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable
request.

1. Investigation into the number of branches, N, reveals

that the 1st and 2nd order BHMCs are less affected by Funding
N compared to the 0th order BHMC. The best specific This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
energy absorption performance is achieved by the 2nd China (No. 52365036 and No. 52065059).
order BHMC with N ¼ 6, reaching a maximum SEA of
11.13 kJ/kg, representing a 13.22% enhancement over
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