LAUSR

Abstract Corrugated tube with a special corrugated surface has wide engineering applications because it can decrease the impacting force. The dynamic response of corrugated tube under axial impacting belongs to the "Type II structures" response. The main inertia effect in corrugated tube is lateral inertia and the axial inertia effect is negligible. By taking the eccentricity factor and amplitude factor into account, three plastic hinge mechanisms and a theoretical model of dynamic progressive buckling are proposed. The results conclude that displacement and impacting force are related to the eccentricity factor and the amplitude factor, but total absorption energy is independent of the eccentricity factor. There is a critical folding angle during the formation process of plastic hinges. The theoretical results are compared well with the numerical and experimental results of previous studies. The theoretical predict of corrugated tube produces excellent characteristics in term of force-consistent and low initial impacting force. And it also provides a reference to the research of the dynamic response of corrugated tube under axial impacting.