With the help of finite element analysis, this research paper deals with the energy absorption and collapse behavior with different corrugated section geometries of hollow tubes made of aluminum alloy 6060-T4. Literature available experimental data were used to validate the numerical models of the structures investigated. Based on the results available for symmetric crushing of circular tubes, models were developed to investigate corrugated thin-walled structures behavior. To study the collapse mechanism and energy absorbing ability in axial compression, the simulation was carried in ABAQUS /EXPLICIT code. In the simulation part, specimens were prepared and axially crushed to one-fourth length of the tube and the energy diagram of crushing force versus axial displacement is shown. The effect of various parameters such as pitch, mean diameter, corrugation, amplitude, the thickness is demonstrated with the help of diagrams. The overall result shows that the corrugated section geometry could be a good alternative to the conventional tubes.

Hollow tubes are the most important part of any structure because of their load-bearing capacity, lightweight and inexpensive manufacturing cost. One of the methods for improving the performance under quasistatic loading is to vary the cross-sectional shapes. In the real case, structures are seldom subjected to pure axial or pure bending rather they are subjected to a combination of two load cases i.e. oblique loading. In this paper, the circular cross-section was combined with four different polygonal cross-sections namely tetragon, hexagon, octagon and decagon and a total of 13 geometries were obtained. The buckling behavior of each tube was investigated numerically at various angles of inclination. Each tube was modeled in SOLIDWORKS and then was analyzed in ANSYS. Linear buckling code was used for finding the critical load at various angles ranging from 0° to 14°. The overall result was then compared and it was found that the proposed geometry can be a good alternative over conventional circular tubes in terms of load-bearing capacity at angular load.

Abstract-

Road bicycles form an intrinsic part of economic transportation. The overall efficiency and performance depend solely on the weight and frame structure. The benchmarks for an innovative frame design are kept in terms of lightweight, fatigue failure, lateral stiffness, torsional stiffness, impact forces and loading capabilities. The deformation and propulsion of bicycle consume rider’s energy, a reduction in deformation and mass of the frame is therefore necessary. In the present work, the structural design and a quasi static vertical load analysis of the bicycle frame are presented using finite element analysis. Corrugated tubes are introduced into the main triangle with different sets of combination and the numerical result thus obtained was compared against the standard tubular bicycle frame.

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