<div>Thin walled tubular structures are widely used in the automotive industry because of its weight to energy absorption advantage. A lot of research has been done in different cross sectional shapes and different tapered designs, with design for manufacturability in mind, to achieve high specific energy absorption. </div><div><br></div><div>In this study a novel type of tubular structure is proposed, in which predesigned origami initiators are introduced into conventional square tubes. The crease pattern is designed to achieve extensional collapse mode which results in decreasing the initial buckling forces and at the same time acts as a fold initiator, helping to achieve a extensional collapse mode. The influence of various design parameters of the origami pattern on the mechanical properties (crushing force and deceleration) are extensively investigated using finite element modelling. Thus, showing a predictable and stable collapse behavior. This pattern can be stamped out of a thin sheet of material. </div><div><br></div><div>The results showed that a properly designed origami pattern can consistently trigger a extensional collapse mode which can significantly lower the peak values of crushing forces and deceleration without compromising on the mean values. Also, a comparison has been made with the behavior of proposed origami pattern for extensional mode verses origami pattern with diamond fold.</div>

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Thin walled tubular structures are widely used in the automotive industry because of its weight to energy absorption advantage. A lot of research has been done in different cross sectional shapes and different tapered designs, with design for manufacturability in mind, to achieve high specific energy absorption. In this study a novel type of tubular structure is proposed, in which predesigned origami initiators are introduced into conventional square tubes. The crease pattern is designed to achieve extensional collapse mode which results in decreasing the initial buckling forces and at the same time acts as a fold initiator, helping to achieve a extensional collapse mode. The influence of various design parameters of the origami pattern on the mechanical properties (crushing force and deceleration) are extensively investigated using finite element modelling. Thus, showing a predictable and stable collapse behavior. This pattern can be stamped out of a thin sheet of material. The results showed that a properly designed origami pattern can consistently trigger a extensional collapse mode which can significantly lower the peak values of crushing forces and deceleration without compromising on the mean values. Also, a comparison has been made with the behavior of proposed origami pattern for extensional mode verses origami pattern with diamond fold.

Este trabalho inicia com uma contextualização histórica e motivação, seguida por revisão bibliográfica nos tópicos discutidos: segurança veicular, crash box, crashworthiness, absorvedores de energia, tubos de impacto, metamodelos, algoritmos genéticos, Planejamento de Experimentos (DoE - Design of Experiments), origami e engenharia, e métodos de otimização na engenharia. Em seguida, o pesquisador propõe um experimento baseado em simulações, avaliando diversas crash box em forma de origami criadas a partir da variação de seus parâmetros dimensionais. Através de um algoritmo baseado em metamodelos, o autor realiza uma análise com o objetivo de maximizar a energia absorvida específica (Specific Energy Absorption - SEA) e a uniformidade de carga (Load Uniformity - LU). A fronteira de Pareto resultante dos dois objetivos é analisada de acordo a exemplos de critérios de decisão, e a configuração escolhida é então comparada a uma crash box da indústria. A configuração escolhida apresenta uma massa quatro vezes menor, e uma uniformidade de carga semelhante à crash box da indústria. Conclui com novas proposições de trabalhos, envolvendo outros métodos de otimização disponíveis. / This research begins with a historical background and motivation, followed by a bibliographic review on the discussed topics: vehicle safety, crash box, crashworthiness, energy absorbers, impact tubes, metamodels, Design of Experiments (DOE), origami and engineering, and optimization in engineering. Next, the researcher proposes a simulation-based experiment, evaluating origami crash boxes created through the variation of several dimensional parameters. Through a metamodel-based algorithm, the author performs an analysis with the objective of maximizing the Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) and the load uniformity (LU). The resultant Pareto frontier of the two objectives is analyzed according to examples of decision criteria, and the chosen design is compared to a crash box from industry. The chosen design presents four times less mass, and a load uniformity similar to the crash box from industry. The research concludes with propositions for new themes, involving other optimization methods available.