A novel aluminium foam-filled circular-triangular nested tube (AFCTNT) energy absorber was developed in this study, and its energy absorption behaviour under impact loading was experimentally and numerically studied. Drop-weight impact tests on the AFCTNT energy absorbers with different volumes of aluminium foam filler were first conducted to obtain their energy absorption parameters, force–displacement responses, and deformation modes. In addition, numerical studies on AFCTNT energy absorbers were also carried out, and the specific energy absorption of nested tubes and aluminium foam were obtained to further reveal their energy absorption performances. Experimental results indicated that the deformation modes of AFCTNT energy absorbers were evidently affected by the volume of aluminium foam filler. Moreover, the energy absorption performances of AFCTNT energy absorbers were found to be significantly improved by filling aluminium foam in terms of higher energy absorption, specific energy absorption, mean crushing force, and crushing force efficiency. Both experimental and numerical results demonstrated that the AFCTNT energy absorber with fully-filled aluminium foam outperformed the other AFCTNT energy absorbers owing to more significant interaction effect between the nested tubes and aluminium foam.

本研究开发了一种新型泡沫铝填充圆三角嵌套管（AFCTNT）能量吸收器，并对其在冲击载荷下的能量吸收行为进行了实验和数值研究。首先对具有不同体积泡沫铝填料的 AFCTNT 能量吸收器进行落锤冲击试验，以获得它们的能量吸收参数、力-位移响应和变形模式。此外，还对AFCTNT吸能器进行了数值研究，得到了嵌套管和泡沫铝的吸能比，进一步揭示了它们的吸能性能。实验结果表明，AFCTNT吸能器的变形模式明显受泡沫铝填料体积的影响。而且，通过填充泡沫铝，AFCTNT吸能器的吸能性能在更高的能量吸收、比能量吸收、平均破碎力和破碎力效率方面得到显着改善。实验和数值结果表明，由于嵌套管和泡沫铝之间更显着的相互作用，具有全填充泡沫铝的 AFCTNT 能量吸收器的性能优于其他 AFCTNT 能量吸收器。