Crashworthiness analysis of bio-inspired thin-walled tubes based on Morpho wings microstructures

Innovative thin-walled structures, bio-inspired by the microstructure of Morpho wings, were proposed as energy absorbing devices in this study. A finite element model, experimentally validated, was used to investigate the crush responses and deformation modes of 18 multi-layered tubes with different geometrical configurations. The crashworthiness parameters were determined for the bio-inspired structures and compared with the traditional structures. Furthermore, a multi-criteria decision-making method was employed in order to identify the best crashworthiness design. It was found that the multi-layered bio-inspired tube with square cross sections and reinforcement walls outperformed all other designs and exhibited the best energy absorption capability.