Exploration of the application of biomimetic design in improving the energy absorption effect of corrugated tubes

Abstract Thin-walled structures are widely used as lightweight energy absorbers, but conventional corrugated tubes still suffer from limited deformation controllability and high peak crushing force (PCF). Inspired by the periodic joints of natural bamboo, this study proposes a bionic bamboo-joint corrugated tube (BBCT) to improve crashworthiness. Quasi-static compression experiments and finite element simulations are conducted to reveal its deformation mechanism and validate the numerical model. Parametric analyses show that the bamboo-joint design promotes stable progressive folding and improves specific energy absorbed (SEA), mean crushing force (MCF) and crushing force efficiency compared with traditional corrugated and circular tubes under identical geometric and loading conditions. A theoretical model based on the simplified super folding element theory is established to predict the MCF, showing good agreement with numerical results. Furthermore, Kriging-based multi-objective optimization combined with Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II is performed to maximize SEA and minimize PCF. Engineering-scale high-speed rail collision simulations demonstrate that the BBCT-based anti-climbing device achieves a 76.3–217.0% higher SEA than representative railway energy-absorbing structures reported in the literature, confirming its potential for lightweight impact energy management.