Abstract
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Shiraz University 2025.This research aims to design and optimize novel auxetic structures inspired by simple re-entrant geometries to enhance crashworthiness and energy absorption characteristics. Three auxetic structures, namely curved, splitted, and peanut, are introduced and evaluated alongside traditional re-entrant structures through experimental and numerical analyses. Finite element method simulations using Abaqus/CAE software are conducted, complemented by quasi-static tests on the structures to derive force–displacement diagrams. Energy absorption parameters—total energy absorption (EA), specific energy absorption (SEA), and crush force efficiency (CFE)—are determined and compared between structures. The results demonstrate the alignment of numerical and experimental approaches, with the peanut structure exhibiting the highest EA and SEA, and the curved structure displaying the highest CFE. Additionally, the presence of foam within the structures is experimentally and numerically examined, leading to increased energy absorption in most cases. Through Taguchi design of experiments, an optimization process was conducted on the curved structure, considering four geometric variables and different objective functions. By introducing a new objective parameter termed ‘absorber efficiency’ combining CFE and SEA, an optimized structure achieving a balanced performance in both aspects is obtained.
NETL
NSTL
Springer Nature