Crushing of Square Aluminium Extrusions with Aluminium Foam Filler - Numerical Analyses

The explicit, non linear finite element code LS-DYNA was applied in order to study the axial compression of square aluminium extrusions with aluminium foam filler. The various aspects and necessary assumptions for modelling this specific problem were considered in view of the opportunities given by LS-DYNA. Based on this, the problem was analysed for a selected set of the model parameters, being extrusion wall thickness, extrusion width, extrusion material strength and finally foam strength. Subsequently, comparisons between the numerical solution and corresponding experimental observations were carried out.