Energy Absorption Analysis and Optimization of a Bionic Thin-Walled Tube Based on Shrimp Chela

A thin-walled tube with bionic cell was developed based on shrimp chela structure of odontodactylus scyllarus to improve the crashworthiness and energy absorption of thin-walled tube. The finite element method was adopted to simulate the axial and radial energy absorption of the bionic thin-wall tube. A response surface method was used to obtain optimal structure of the bionic thin-wall tube. Simulation results show that, the specific energy absorption(SEA) of bionic thin-walled tube can be improved by 11.1% (axial) and 24.6% (lateral), respectively, compared with the normal thin-walled tube. The optimization structure dimensions can be obtained. The optimal value of SEA is 27.0 kJ/kg (axial) and 10.8 kJ/kg (lateral), respectively. This research provides new methods for lightweight designing of thin-walled structures.