Compression resistance of horsetail-inspired porous thin-walled structures

Porous thin-walled structures are widely used in aerospace, military protection, and various other fields due to their excellent compression resistance and lightweight properties. This study proposes three types of horsetail-inspired porous thin-walled structures—type horsetail hollow hexagon (HH), hollow hexagon filled with hexagon (HHFH), and hollow hexagon filled with circular (HHFC)—each with distinct cross-sectional shapes to optimize their compression performance, inspired by the porous thin-walled structures of horsetails. Radial compression numerical simulation of the horsetail-inspired porous thin-wall structure were carried out using the finite element method. The numerical results indicated that the structural parameters of horsetail-bionic porous thin-wall structure are crucial to compression resistance performance. The effects of structural parameters on the compression resistance of horsetail-inspired porous thin-walled structures, including specific absorption energy and total deformation, were analyzed using response surface methodology. To further enhance compression performance, a multi-objective optimization method was employed to maximize the specific energy absorption while minimizing maximum total deformation of the horsetail-inspired porous thin-walled structures. Specimens of horsetail-inspired porous thin-walled structures were fabricated by 3D printing technology, and their compression performance was tested under the radial quasi-static compression. Experimental results indicate that type HHFH exhibits the highest specific energy absorption, being 54% higher than type HHFC and 135% higher than type HH. Furthermore, type HHFH demonstrates the smallest total deformation, 14% less than type HHFC and 34% less than type HH. The horsetail-inspired porous thin-walled structures, designed for lightweight and energy absorption, have potential applications in engineering.