Dynamic response of the foam-filled triangular tube under low-velocity impact

This paper presents an analytical and numerical study on the dynamic response of triangular foam-filled tubes (TFFT) under low-speed heavy-mass collisions. Based on the yield criterion, an analytical solution for the dynamic response of fully supported triangular tubes filled with foam is derived. Numerical calculations are conducted using Abaqus/Explicit software, and the analytical results and the finite element results are remarkably consistent. The effects of metal tube thickness, foam strength, and impact location on the dynamic response of fixed triangular TFFTs are extensively discussed. The results indicate that the impact force improves with increasing foam strength and metal tube thickness. The impact force when normalized foam strength is 0.5 is 1.18 times more than the case of normalized foam strength with 0.1, and the impact force when normalized tube thickness is 0.5 is 1.35 times more than the case of normalized foam strength with 0.2. This analytical model provides reliable means to accurately predict the dynamic response of foam-filled triangular tubes under low-speed heavy-mass collisions.