Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

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Thin-Walled Structures
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Full length article

Compressive behaviors of fractal-like honeycombs with different array

configurations under low velocity impact loading
Zhendong Li a,b , Luming Shen a,b , Kai Wei d , Zhonggang Wang a,b,c ,∗
a
School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China
b
Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track, Ministry of Education, Changsha, Hunan, China
c
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Complex Manufacturing, Changsha, Hunan, China
d
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, Hunan University, Changsha, China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Fractal-like structures have been found to offer excellent mechanical performance, showing remarkable
Compressive behavior potential in engineering applications. This study proposed the fractal-like honeycombs with different array
Energy absorption configurations. Their intricate patterns were constructed based on a simple fractal cell inspired by Koch
Fractal-like honeycombs
curve. Compressive behaviors of the proposed honeycombs were investigated theoretically and numerically.
Folding mechanism
Compared with conventional honeycombs, the specific energy absorption (SEA) of the proposed honeycombs
can be improved by 85%, 110% and 95% for triangular, square and hexagonal honeycombs, respectively.
For every array configuration, the proposed structures all exhibit higher crushing force efficiency (CFE).
Theoretical models of conventional honeycombs and the optimal fractal-like honeycombs were established.
Folding mechanism was analyzed to reveal the mechanical improvement by comparing details of folding lobes
in the forming process. Analytical solutions were compared in terms of the half-wave length, mean crushing
force and SEA by a solution map, reflecting the ratios and trends of increment in each criterion. The influence
of the cell number on the half-wave length was studied. The findings of this study provide new directions
and guidelines for designing novel energy absorbers with enhanced crashworthiness.

Prevailing /prɪˈveɪ.lɪŋ/ (a) đang thính hành, phổ biến, thông dụng
1. Introduction (n) thịnh hành, chiếm ưu thế
Safety criteria have become stricter because of the higher speeds of
vehicles, including automobiles, high-speed trains, and airplanes. It is
important to find better protection strategies to minimize the damage
and losses in crash accidents. In the previous decades, diverse thin-
walled structures have been proposed and used to dissipate the large
amount of kinetic energy in the crash accidents [1–3]. During this
period, honeycomb structures have been comprehensively investigated
because of the beneficial characteristics which include lightweight,
high strength and high energy absorption performance [4–7]. Metallic
honeycombs are always characterized by a long plateau stage and are
insensitive to stability loss under axial crushing. Self-similar structures
have been comprehensively studied because they can provide local en-
hancement, thereby enhancing the overall out-of-plane crashworthiness
[8,9]. Wang et al. [10] compared the conventional multi-cell structure
with the vertex-based hierarchical one. The folding response of the
latter was evidently improved, showing a more stable deformation
behavior. Sun et al. [11] found that SEA of first-order and second-
order configuration with a specific scale ratio for the side length
were improved up to approximately 81.3% and 185.7%, respectively.
Additionally, by introducing fractal-like honeycombs to sandwiches, it
is found that the blast resistance and bending performance could be
improved [12,13].
A fractal pattern is the key to the design of self-similar structures.
Most self-similar structures are constructed based on fractal cells, or
the whole structure contains strict self-similarity which is a significant
feature of fractals. In fact, fractal geometry is very prevailing in solving
out scientific problems and it has recently been applied to various fields
recently [14–17]. Krishnamoorthy et al. [14] investigated the thermal
transport in fractal heterostructures, which is critical for designing
innovative optoelectronic and energy-harvesting devices. Fractal design
can efficiently be applied in noise control engineering. Liu et al. [15]
constructed a three-dimensional fractal acoustic metamaterial with
high structural symmetry. The results show that the fractal metama-
terial had double negative properties. Chen et al. [16] established a
fractal acoustic model for the sound absorption of sintered fibrous met-
als based on the fractal geometric theory. The results indicated that the
fractal dimensions dominated the acoustic performance of the sound
absorber. Song et al. [17] applied fractal design to fabricate a broad-
band fractal acoustic metamaterial that offered low-frequency sound

∗ Corresponding author at: School of Traffic & Transportation Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
E-mail address: wangzg@csu.edu.cn (Z. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tws.2021.107759
Received 29 November 2020; Received in revised form 13 March 2021; Accepted 29 March 2021
Available online 13 April 2021
0263-8231/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Prevail /prɪˈveɪl/ (v) thịnh hành, phổ biến

Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

The increasingly rigid service environment = môi trường dịch vụ ngày càng cứng nhắc
attenuation in the range of 225–1175 Hz. Multiple resonances were to divide one segment into three equal components and then replace the
obtained with self-similar properties, providing a possible alternative middle third of each interval by the other two edges of an equilateral
for noise attenuation. triangle. The evolution of Koch curve is shown in Fig. 1(a). Here,
Enhancing the mechanical performance of lightweight structures is 𝐿0 represents a line segment of unit length. 𝐿1 can be obtained by
a popular topic due to the increasingly rigid service environment [18, removing the middle third of 𝐿0 and replacing it with the other two
19]. Many studies have verified that a fractal-like design can obviously edges. 𝐿2 and 𝐿3 are constructed in successive steps and thus 𝐿𝑛 is
enhance the mechanical performance and make it possible to tailor obtained by recursive procedures. Assuming that 𝑛 is infinite, the curves
a material’s properties [20,21]. In recent years, fractal features have 𝐿𝑛−1 and 𝐿𝑛 represent the edge lengths of the 𝑛th and (𝑛 − 1)th orders,
prevailed in the design of crush absorbers. Some valuable foundations respectively. 𝐿𝑛 is a limited curve which resembles a snowflake. It can
of fractal-like honeycombs have been developed. For example, Zhang be calculated according to Eq. (1).
et al. [22–24] achieved great results in this field. They designed innova- ( )𝑛
4
tive columns to improve the energy absorption performance based on 𝐿𝑛 = 𝐿0 (1)
3
the Koch fractal, which is a classical fractal geometry, and investigated
The corresponding fractal closed-curve profiles can be obtained
the crushing responses by using experiments and simulations [22]. It
based on the Koch fractal curve. The unit cell of triangular honeycomb
was found that 2nd order hybrid Koch absorbers exhibited the highest
is demonstrated in Fig. 1(b), along with the evolution process. The edge
SEA performance. Furthermore, after further designing new fractal
length and wall thickness of original regular triangle are denoted as
structures and investigating their crashworthiness [23,24], the results
𝑙0𝑇 and 𝑡0 , respectively; 𝑙1𝑇 and 𝑡1 represent the edge length and wall
showed that the maximum increase in the SEA of a fractal structure
thickness of the 1st order fractal cell, respectively. The evolution rule
with hexagonal sides was 48.8% and 58.8% higher than those of fractal
tells that the cells are constructed by dividing one segment into three
structures with triangular and square sides, respectively. In addition, it
equal parts with the middle part resembling itself. Thus, representative
was found that a fractal hierarchical hexagonal structure inspired by
cells of the extended square and hexagonal patterns can also be ob-
spider webs showed an obvious improvement in energy absorption over
tained, as depicted in Fig. 1(b). They conform the Koch curve dividing
a single-wall nonhierarchical structure, regardless of the sophistication
principle, so the edge length has relationships that 𝑙0𝑇 = 3𝑙1𝑇 , 𝑙0𝑆 = 3𝑙1𝑆
level. Based on the reported studies, energy absorbers with fractal
and 𝑙0𝐻 = 3𝑙1𝐻 .
designs can offer favorable energy absorption performances and are a
Brief theoretical analysis was performed for the regular triangular
great choice for energy absorbers [25–28].
tube and the Koch fractal tube to understand the mechanical merits of
Tailoring the cross-sectional configuration is an effective method to
Koch fractal. Theoretical models were established based on the typical
enhance the mechanical performance of a product and reduce potential
folding element theory. Subjected to axial compression, the energy
risks [29–31]. For example, Sun et al. [32] investigated the dynamic
dissipated by each folding element include the plastic extension energy,
behaviors of crisscross configurations and found that they contributed
𝐸 1 , dissipated during the stretching of the toroidal shell, the plastic
significantly to enhancing the energy absorption characteristics. One
energy, 𝐸 2 , consumed by horizontal plastic hinge lines, and the energy,
with a spline curve had a value that was approximately 150% higher
𝐸 3 , dissipated by inclined plastic hinge lines. The energy within 2𝐻
than that of a square column. Wu et al. [33] explored a series of
crush distance should be calculated as follows [35,36]:
novel Fourier-varying sectional tubes and found that the SEA was up to
62.9% larger than that of its counterpart. In fact, the aforementioned 𝐻𝑏
𝐸 1 = 16𝑀0 𝐼 (𝜏 ) (2)
prevailing self-similar structures equipped with different cross-sectional 𝑡 1 0
configurations have been designed to improve not only the quantity 𝐸 2 = 2𝜋𝑀0 𝑐 (3)
but also the quality of energy dissipation units. For instance, Zhang 𝐻2
et al. [34] found that honeycombs equipped with fractal triangular 𝐸 3 = 4𝑀0 𝐼 (𝜏 ) (4)
𝑏 3 0
cells increased the sophistication and significantly improved the plastic ◦ ◦
where 𝜏0 ∈ [0 , 90 ]. 𝑏 is the small radius of the toroidal shell, and 𝑐
energy absorption. Thus, in this study, the Koch fractal cell was ap- represents the length of the folding unit dissipating energy. 𝑀0 is the
plied to form various cross-sectional geometries to explore the folding fully plastic bending moment, which can be calculated as 𝑀0 = 𝜎𝑠 𝑡2 ∕4.
performance under different folding units. 𝜎0 denotes the static yield stress of foil material. 𝐼1 (𝜏0 ) and 𝐼3 (𝜏0 ) can
In contrast to the aforementioned literatures above, the fractal-like be expressed by the following equations.
honeycombs proposed in this study are composed of fractal closed cells 𝜋 { ( )
and they have different array configurations. A triangular fractal cell ( ) 𝜋 2 𝜋 − 2𝜏0
𝐼 1 𝜏0 = cos 𝛼 sin 𝜏0 sin 𝛽
that stems from the classic Koch fractal curve is common. Here, square (𝜋 − 2𝜏0 ) tan 𝜏0 ∫0 𝜋
[ ]}
and hexagonal fractal cells were also studied to widen the fractal-like 𝜋 − 2𝜏0
designs. This study focuses on exploring the effects of different array + cos 𝜏0 1 − cos( )𝛽 𝑑𝛼 (5)
𝜋
configurations on the mechanical performance and revealing the un- 𝜋
( ) 1 2 cos 𝛼
derlying mechanism of the substantial energy absorption improvement. 𝐼 3 𝜏0 = 𝑑𝛼 (6)
Section 2 illustrates Koch fractal theory and then compares a triangular tan 𝜏0 ∫0 sin 𝛾
fractal column with its regular counterpart using theoretical approach. where 𝛼, 𝛽 and 𝛾 are geometric angles in folding process [37].( )
The geometrics of the proposed fractal-like honeycombs are given in Considering unit types, when 𝜏0 was 𝜋∕4 ( ) and 𝜋∕6, 𝐼1 𝜏0 can be
this section. Section 3 describes the construction of Finite Element obtained as 0.58 and 1.05, respectively; 𝐼3 𝜏0 is 1.11 and 2.39 accord-
(FE) models with detailed information such as loading situations, mesh ingly. For the triangular columns, the number and energy absorption
convergence and material model given. Section 4 analyzed the numer- of folding units can be determined. The total internal plastic energy
dissipated by the original column (𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑡 0 ) and present fractal column
ical results with detailed comparisons. Section 5 revealed the essential
1 ) can be calculated as seen in Eqs. (7) and (8), respectively.
(𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑡
reasons for the mechanical improvement caused by fractal-inspired
designs by comparing the details of folding lobes in the forming process ( 0 )2
and conducting a theoretical analysis. 0 𝐻 0 𝑏0 𝐻
𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑡 = 50.4𝑀0 + 6𝜋𝑀0 𝑙0 + 28.68𝑀0 (7)
𝑡0 𝑏0
2. Configurations inspired by Koch fractal ( 1 )2
1 𝐻 1 𝑏1 𝐻
𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑡 = 201.6𝑀0 + 8𝜋𝑀0 𝑙0 + 114.72𝑀0 (8)
𝑡0 𝑏1
2.1. Description and analysis
where 𝐻 0 and 𝐻 1 represent the half-wave length of the original column
Koch fractal curve is a classical fractal geometry that contains self- and fractal column, respectively, and 𝑡0 represents the wall thickness
similarity at arbitrarily small scales with fine structures. The principle is which is the same for them.

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Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

Fig. 1. Koch curve and evolutional closed-curve cells. (a) Evolution of the Koch fractal from 𝐿0 to 𝐿𝑛 . (b) Regular and fractal closed-curve cells, including triangular pattern and
extended square and hexagonal patterns.

Table 1 configurations, as seen in Table 2. There are only 3 × 3 cells displayed

Analytical comparison of original column and its fractal counterpart.
for simplicity. All these intricate configurations stem from basically
Mean crushing force Half-wave length Specific energy absorption simple fractal cell. Conventional triangular honeycomb is abbreviated
√ ( ) √( ) ( )2∕3 as TH. Taking triangular pattern as an example, the first novel con-
3 5 3 2 𝜎0 𝑡0
11.2841𝜎0 𝑙0 𝑡0 0.6264 𝑙0 𝑡0 3.7614 𝜌 𝑙0
figuration is constructed by linking the corresponding vertexes of the
outer edge vertices with each other. It is symmetrical in the vertical
√ ( ) √( ) ( )2∕3
31.2959𝜎0
3
𝑙0 𝑡0
5 3 2
0.3012 𝑙0 𝑡0 7.8240
𝜎0 𝑡0 and horizontal directions, which is an aligned type, called as KTH1 .
𝜌 𝑙0
The second configuration (KTH2 ) is √a staggered type in which the cells
in even (odd) column moves down 3𝑙1𝑇 ∕2, and the second row starts
with a moving distance of 𝑙1𝑇 ∕2. Then, the following rows move with
the same distance in one direction based on the previous row. As for
According to the energy balance principle, the external work must the third type, an oblique configuration, it has the same change in
be equal to the internal dissipation. The least mean load leads to rows as KTH2 . It can be obtained by moving the columns based on
collapse during the compression process. Hence, 𝐻 0 and 𝐻 1 can be the previous one with recursive steps. KTH4 is another aligned type
calculated using the derivative. Eventually, the mean force of the constructed based on KTH1 . In addition to the first row, the following
columns can be obtained below. rows move laterally 𝑙0 ∕2 on the basis of the previous row and link to
√
3 ( )5 the upper vertexes. Eventually, four different array configurations of
𝐹𝑚0 = 11.2841𝜎0 𝑙0 𝑡0 (9) triangular honeycombs are obtained. Extended square and hexagonal
√
1 3 ( )5 patterns also can be constructed as listed in Table 2. For example, one
𝐹𝑚 = 31.2959𝜎0 𝑙0 𝑡0 (10)
aligned type was introduced by linking the corresponding positions of
where 𝐹𝑚0 and 𝐹𝑚1 represent the mean crushing force of the original the outer edge vertices with high symmetry. The corresponding models
triangular column and the fractal counterpart, respectively. are KSH1 and KHH1 respectively. In brief, they could also be divided
The specific energy absorption over a length of 2𝐻 can also be into the aforementioned four types as they are obtained by the close
calculated. The analytical solutions above are concluded in Table 1. approaches of cell arrangements with triangular pattern. It should be
They are obtained for same initial length (𝑙0 ), wall thickness (𝑡0 ), mentioned that the folding units of similar array configurations are
yield strength (𝜎0 ) and material density (𝜌). From Table 1, the fractal different. That means, for one specific type (e.g., Type-2), KTH1 , KSH1
one offers a higher SEA, increasing by around 108%. While the half- and KHH1 are similar in cell arrangements but they have many different
wave length is smaller. That means the fractal design has a significant folding units. Numerical simulations will be carried out in the following
promotion on energy absorption. Thus, the fractal design applied to text to quantify the crashworthiness of these fractal-like honeycombs.
thin-walled structures is effective. This approach is worth investigating.
In this study, the fractal design was applied to construct triangular, 3. Materials and methods
square and hexagonal closed-curve cells as shown in Fig. 1(b). Different
array configurations were considered for exploring more mechanical 3.1. FE modeling
merits and design potentials.
The FE tool was used to explore the crushing performance of the
2.2. Geometrics of fractal-like honeycombs proposed honeycombs in this study. Numerical simulations were con-
ducted by means of ABAQUS/Explicit [38] due to its high reliability
Based on the analysis of Koch fractal, fractal cells were introduced to for solving dynamic problems [26,39,40]. Axial loading was performed
lightweight honeycombs to seek mechanical merits. Triangular, square by implementing a three-dimensional model. Each model consists of 3
and hexagonal fractal-like honeycombs were constructed with varying components: honeycomb, moving plate for applying vertical loads and
cross-sectional shapes. Apart from the conventional one, four configu- fixed support (see Fig. 2(a)). Fifteen simulated models are shown in
rations were proposed for each pattern by considering different array Fig. 2(b). The bottom of honeycomb was placed on the bottom rigid

3
Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al.
Table 2
Sketches (3 × 3 cells) and abbreviations of conventional and fractal-like honeycombs (1st order) for triangular, square and
hexagonal patterns.
Fig. 2. Diagrams of FE models under axial loading. (a) Schematic of crushing process, with impact velocity of 10 m/s. (b) FE Models of fractal-like honeycombs with different
array configurations.
plate, while the other end was compressed along the axial direction by
the top plate with a velocity of 10 m/s. In order to maintain equal
cell number of each cross-sectional type and cell completeness, all
the simulated models are composed of 8 × 8 cells in x–y plane. The
geometric size of each model is different due to the different array
configurations, as seen in Table 3. 𝐶1 , 𝐶2 and 𝐶3 represent the side
length in x, y and z directions, respectively. For all the numerical
models presented in this section, the original edge length (𝑙0 ) of the
conventional honeycombs is 9 mm in this study; thus, the side length
of the fractal cells (𝑙1 ) is 3 mm. All the wall thickness is set at 0.1 mm.
Honeycomb was meshed with a 4-node doubly curved shell element
(S4R) with reduced integration. Reduced integration was applied to
obtain an efficient approach. Hourglass control was involved to cap-
ture the deformation behavior of the metal tubes undergoing plastic
deformation and to avoid a zero-energy deformation mode or volu-
metric locking [3,30]. Dynamic explicit algorithm was applied in this
study, which has been considered an effective method to improve the
efficiency [29]. The ‘‘smooth step’’ time function is assigned in the
calculation process. General contact was applied to calculate the plastic
deformation and avoid self-penetration between the potential contacted
surfaces. The friction coefficients have negligible influence on the axial
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Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759
crushing response of thin-walled structures [40]. Here, the dynamic and
static friction coefficients were set as 0.2 and 0.3 respectively, which is
exactly the same way as other studies [11,12,22–24].
Mesh sensitivity was considered to ensure that the models are capa-
ble of precisely calculating the associated deformations. A convergence
test of conventional hexagonal honeycomb with five different mesh
sizes was carried out in this study to improve the simulation accuracy
and calculation efficiency, including element size of 1.0 mm × 1.0 mm,
0.8 mm × 0.8 mm, 0.6 mm × 0.6 mm, 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm and 0.4 mm
× 0.4 mm. The results obtained under different mesh sizes are shown
in Fig. 3, including the comparison of force–displacement curves, mean
crushing force and computational time in each mesh case. It is found
that the plateau stages move down clearly until the element size of
0.6 mm × 0.6 mm. Good agreement can be observed between the
0.5 mm and 0.4 mm cases. Regarding the mean crushing force, it is
larger in the case of 1.0 mm × 1.0 mm than in other cases. The error
between the global size of 0.8 mm and 0.6 mm is 10.66%, while it
decreases to 5.18% for a global size by of 0.5 mm. The model with
global size of 0.5 mm and 0.4 mm yield close mean crushing force
with error at 3.30%. However, as demonstrated by the bar figure, the
computational time with the element size of 0.4 mm × 0.4 mm is huge,
Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

Table 4
Material properties of AL 5052-H18.
Young’s module (GPa) Density (kg/m3 ) Poisson’s ratio Yield stress (MPa)
69.3 2680 0.33 215

plastic material model are provided in Table 4. Note that the damage
model and geometric imperfections were not taken into account in the
simulation. The material parameters were obtained from the authors’
previous study [45], with density of 2680 kg/m3 , Young’s module of
69.3 GPa, Poisson’s ratio of 0.33, and yield stress of 215 MPa.

3.3. Crashworthiness index

Specific energy absorption (SEA), crushing force efficiency (CFE)

and fluctuation degree (𝜔) are considered in this study to evaluate the
crushing performance of metal honeycombs.
SEA is crucial for measuring energy absorption performance of
cellular structures especially in the case of different mass. It can be
defined as:
Fig. 3. Convergence study of conventional honeycomb in terms of force–displacement 𝑙
curve, mean crushing force and computational time with element sizes of 1.0 mm ×
∫0 𝑃 (𝑥)𝑑𝑥
𝑆𝐸𝐴 = (11)
1.0 mm, 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm, 0.6 mm × 0.6 mm, 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm and 0.4 mm × 𝑚
0.4 mm.
where 𝑃 is the axial crushing force and 𝑙 denotes the integral termina-
tion point of displacement. In this study, 𝑙 is the last bottom point of
Table 3
the plateau stage for all the structures.
Geometric parameters of numerical models (Unit: mm).
CFE is defined as the ratio of the mean crushing force (𝐹𝑚 ) to the
Parameters 𝐶1 𝐶2 C3 Side length
peak crushing force (𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥 ).
TH 40.50 62.35 80 9
KTH1 72 83.14 80 3 𝐹𝑚
𝐶𝐹 𝐸 = (12)
Triangular KTH2 72 67.55 80 3 𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥
KTH3 72 83.14 80 3
KTH4 103.50 64.95 80 3 Fluctuation degree is important to evaluate stability of energy ab-
SH 72 72 80 9
sorber devices which can be calculated as Eq. (13).
KSH1 120 120 80 3 𝑃1 − 𝑃2
Square KSH2 120 102 80 3 𝜔= (13)
𝐹𝑚
KSH3 120 120 80 3
KSH4 172.50 78 80 3 where 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 represent the peak and bottom force in the plateau
HH 124.71 126 80 9 stage in the folding process.
KHH1 207.85 192 80 3
Hexagonal KHH2 171.47 204 80 3 4. Numerical results
KHH3 207.85 213 80 3
KHH4 298.78 181.50 80 3
Fig. 4(a) shows the curves of force versus displacement of triangular
honeycomb with different configurations. The compression process
lasts four typical stages, including the initial elastic, collapse, plateau
costing substantial resources. In particular, many FE models are to be and densification stages. All the proposed fractal-like structures show
calculated in this study. Thus, in order to properly balance the accuracy higher load-bearing force than the corresponding conventional coun-
and computational resources cost, the element size of 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm terpart. KTH4 performs the highest curve while the forces of KTH2
was adopted throughout this study. and KTH3 is close even though they hold different mass. KTH1 shows
Numerical simulation of aluminum honeycombs performed in the lowest load–resistance ability of the fractal-like structures while it
ABAQUS has been developed to a mature stage [26,31,40]. For cellular has the same mass with KTH3 . It indicates that folding units play a
structures with complex cross-sectional configurations, it is uncommon vital role in dissipating plastic energy. Quantitative analysis is needed
to conduct direct impact tests because of the hurdles in fabrication for further investigation. The mean crushing force is obtained with 𝜀
and cost. Most studies have used theoretical model or tests of regular from 0.25 to 0.55 in historical curves. For the triangular patterns, the
structures to validate FE model (e.g. [9–12]). In this study, we used biggest value is 24.09 kN, which is over 4 times of the conventional
the same method as Ref. [41–44] that the models are validated by triangular honeycomb (5.75 kN). The crucial criteria, SEA, is compared
comparing the analytical solutions and FE data. As shown in Fig. 10, in Fig. 4(b). The value of the proposed structures is much bigger. For
they verify each other very well. instance, compared with 14.12 kJ/kg of TH, the increment of KSH4 is
about 85%, with the figure increasing to 26.18 kJ/kg. The increment of
3.2. Material model other three types are closely at 71%, 69% and 71%, respectively. CFE
values of the novel structures are all higher than TH, maintaining at a
The aluminum was modeled as elastic perfectly plastic material in close level, ranging from 0.43 to 0.48. About the stability, TH and KSH3
numerical simulation. It is considered as ideal material for simulat- are not idealized with bigger fluctuation. This will be further explained
ing thin-walled cellular structures due to its high ductility and great in the analysis of folding mechanism.
plasticity. Because the aluminum alloys are low sensitive to the strain For square and hexagonal honeycombs, the force–displacement
rate [11,12,29–34], the rate-dependent and hardening effects were curves are shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b), respectively. All the curves are
not considered. In this study, the aluminum 5052-H18 was adopted obtained in the case of same wall thickness. Interestingly, KSH3 yields
for all the conducted numerical models. The input parameters of the a highly stable curve while the curve of KSH4 fluctuates dramatically

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Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

Fig. 4. Numerical results for conventional triangular honeycomb (TH) and its fractal-like counterparts (KTH1 , KTH2 , KTH3 and KTH4 ): (a) Force–displacement curves; (b) SEA
increment of fractal-like honeycombs. The red dash dot line represents SEA of TH, maintaining at 14.12 kJ/kg.

Fig. 5. Numerical results for conventional square and hexagonal honeycombs (SH and HH) and fractal-like counterparts. Force–displacement curves of (a) square and (b) hexagonal
patterns. Comparison of crashworthiness criteria of (c) square and (d) hexagonal patterns in terms of SEA, CFE and 𝜔.

due to unrealistic deformation. For the hexagonal honeycombs, KHH3
performs the highest plateau stage and all the curves maintain at a rel-
atively stable level. The changed porosities lead to early densification.
Further analyses are given by data comparisons. The mean crushing
force of SH (5.71 kN) is much smaller than that of KSH3 (27.81 kN).
SEA witnesses a substantial improvement from 12.78 kJ/kg to 26.84
kJ/kg, with the increment by 110%. Unsurprisingly, all the proposed
novel structures show higher CFE compared with SH. Meanwhile,
KSH3 not only exhibits highest SEA but the high stability with 𝜔 of
0.06. Taking all these values into consideration, KSH3 is the optimal
configuration, followed by KSH2 . For hexagonal patterns, the fractal-
like honeycombs are much heavier due to the intricate geometric
configurations and this is reflected in Fig. 5(b). All the fractal-like
honeycombs get promoted on SEA, increasing by about 56%, 85%,
95% and 67% for KHH1 , KHH2 , KHH3 and KHH4 , respectively. The
fluctuation of KHH3 is smallest with 𝜔 of 0.03, showing high stability
in crushing process. Therefore, KHH3 can be regarded as the optimal
configuration due to the superb energy absorption performance among
the fractal-like configurations. The calculated crashworthiness criteria
of square and hexagonal honeycombs are shown in Fig. 5(c) and (d),
respectively. The trends of SEA and CFE from HH to KHH4 follow
the same rule as square patterns from SH to KSH4 , increasing from
the conventional counterpart and hitting the highest point in oblique
array configuration, followed by a drop in the fourth configuration. It
should be mentioned that array configuration applied to each pattern
is not exactly the same, and the mechanical performance is determined
by specific folding element in each configuration. This explains why
the best configuration of triangular honeycombs is not the oblique
one. To sum up, KSH3 and KHH3 are successful extended examples
of fractal-like honeycombs. The greatest growth of SEA is up to 110%
and 95% for square (KSH3 ) and hexagonal (KHH3 ) patterns, respec-
tively. Overall, the fractal-like design definitely increases the energy
absorption performance of regular honeycombs under axial loading,
indicating the significance of the cross-sectional design in improving
energy absorption capacity. The proposed fractal-like honeycombs are
recommended to guide energy absorber designs.

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Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

Fig. 6. Deformation modes of single representative cell of conventional honeycomb and corresponding fractal-like structures (𝜀 = 0.50). (a) Different lobes forming details of each
triangular configuration were demonstrated by two view directions. (b) Compared with SH and HH, more lobes yielded in the crushing process for KSH3 and KHH3 , showing
stronger wall interactions.

Fig. 7. Comparison of stress nephograms with representative energy dissipation parts shown (𝜀 = 0.25).

5. Discussion
5.1. Energy dissipation of folding lobes
To reveal the underlying mechanism of significant improvement
clearly, the characteristics of lobes forming of fractal-like honeycombs
and the conventional counterparts are compared in association of fold-
ing efficiency and wall interactions. The single representative cell of
triangular honeycombs was compared in two directions with 𝜀 of 0.50
(see Fig. 6). Clearly, the folding details are different for them. The unit
cell of TH shows imperfections, including thick lobes (marked by box
A) and local buckling. Thick lobes mean it has bigger half-wave length,
which is not ideal in terms of energy absorption. Furthermore, the
serious buckling behavior is circled in box B in another view direction.
The buckling directly leads to inefficient plastic energy dissipation.
However, for the fractal-like structures, the lobes forming is more
stable and successive with thinner wave length. As what we found
before, the oblique array configuration is an optimal design for square
and hexagonal patterns in terms of increasing the energy absorption
ability. But KTH3 performs weaker than KTH4 in SEA. This can be
explained by the imperfections of KTH3 shown in Fig. 6, marked by
box C. The local buckling weakens the energy dissipation efficiency of
folding lobes. In summary, compared with that of TH, the fractal-like
triangular pattens show an ideal, stable and consecutive deformation
behavior, with more lobes and wall interactions appeared, thereby
achieving favorable energy absorption characteristics. For the square
and hexagonal honeycombs, KSH3 and KHH3 were selected for making
comparison with conventional counterparts due to their great energy
absorption performance, as seen in Fig. 6(b). Since they have the same
initial edge length, the dimensional size of fractal cell is bigger. It can
be observed that more lobes are yielded in the crushing process. The
edge interactions are stronger due to their specific geometrics. These

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Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

differences directly lead to higher plastic energy dissipation, which Therefore, according to the energy balance principle, the external
reveals why KSH3 and KHH3 can offer stable plastic deformation and works must equal the internal dissipation, which means 𝑊𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑡 = 𝐸𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑡 .
higher energy absorption capacity. Thus, the average crushing force can be described as
Different array configurations mean diverse folding units, leading 𝐹𝑚𝑇 ( ) 𝐻𝑇
to the apparent synergistic effects. Differences of energy dissipation = 8.4 14𝑘2 − 4𝑘 + 2 𝑇 + 4𝑘2 𝜋𝑙0 + 9.56(8𝑘2 − 4𝑘 + 2) (22)
𝑀0 𝑡
regions and units are direct reasons why the oblique array configu-
ration of square and hexagonal fractal-like honeycombs provide more The least 𝐹𝑚𝑇 leads to collapse happen in the compression process.
favorable crushing performance. Fig. 7 shows their stress nephograms Hence, 𝐻 𝑇 and 𝑏𝑇 can be determined by letting 𝜕𝐹𝑚𝑇 ∕𝜕𝐻 𝑇 = 0,
with representative energy dissipation parts. SH and HH are compared 𝜕𝐹𝑚𝑇 ∕𝜕𝑏𝑇 = 0. Because the wall thickness here maintains at 𝑡0 , 𝐻 𝑇 and
here and the deformation states were obtained when the crushing 𝐹𝑚𝑇 can be expressed below
distance is 20 mm in x–y plane. It can be observed that SH and √ √
𝑘4 3 ( )2
HH have many empty spaces remained in unit cells. While for KSH3 𝑇
𝐻 = 0.0498 3 ( ) 𝑙 0 𝑡0 (23)
and KHH3 , for each energy dissipating unit, there are stronger wall 7𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1 (4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1)
√( √
interactions performed in the plastic collapse stage. The promotion on ) 3 ( )5
cell interactions directly leads to local increment, which contributes 𝐹𝑚𝑇 = 11.9416𝜎0 3 7𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1 (4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1)𝑘2 𝑙0 𝑡0 (24)
to substantial mechanical enhancement of the whole structure. The Similarly, focusing on KSH3 and KHH3 , the same method was
fractal-like structures with increasing sophistication are effective in applied. KSH3 consists of the corner, T-shaped and crisscross parts with
promoting plastic energy dissipation. parameters 𝑚𝑆1 , 𝑚𝑆2 and 𝑚𝑆3 defined as the corresponding number of
folding units, respectively. Bases on the cross-sectional geometry, 𝑚𝑆1 ,
5.2. Theoretical analysis 𝑚𝑆2 and 𝑚𝑆3 can be clearly expressed below.

5.2.1. Folding mechanism 𝑚𝑆1 = 12𝑘2 + 4𝑘 + 2 (25)

For further revealing the reasons of mechanical improvement of
𝑚𝑆2 = 4𝑘 − 4 (26)
fractal-like honeycombs, theoretical models of KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3
2
as well as their conventional counterparts (TH, SH and HH) were con- 𝑚𝑆3 = 3(𝑘 − 1) (27)
structed in this section. For triangular pattern, KTH4 performs optimal
Energy dissipated by corner-shaped units, Y-shaped and crisscross
energy absorption performance among all the array configurations.
units are named as 𝐸𝐼𝑆 , 𝐸𝐼𝐼 𝑆 and 𝐸 𝑆 , respectively. They can be
𝐼𝐼𝐼
During axial compression, its crushing response of cellular structures
obtained according to the localized energy dissipation regions. 𝐻 𝑆
is tricky to predict due to the high nonlinearity, so it can be divided
and 𝑡𝑆 denote the half-wave length and wall thickness of this square
into a combination of different regular folding units.
pattern, respectively. Thus, the total energy can be summed up as
As demonstrated in Table 2, KTH4 is consisted of the corner parts
the product of corresponding number and calculated energy of folding
and the other two parts according to the geometry. The number of the
units. According to the same rule, the half-wave length and mean
corner parts is labeled as 𝑚𝑇1 . The other two parts, four-edged and star-
crushing force of KSH3 can be obtained as shown in Eqs. (28) and (29),
shaped units, also are symmetric. The former is composed of four edges,
respectively.
with the number labeled as 𝑚𝑇2 . The number of star-shaped units is 𝑚𝑇3 . √ √
3 ( )2
They have been introduced in the authors’ previous study [29]. The (9𝑘2 − 𝑘 + 1)2
number of original honeycomb cell is designated as k. According to the 𝐻 𝑆 = 0.3286 3 𝑙0 𝑡0 (28)
2 2
(9𝑘 − 2𝑘 + 2)(4𝑘 − 2𝑘 + 1)
specific geometry, 𝑚𝑇1 , 𝑚𝑇2 and 𝑚𝑇3 can be expressed as follows.
√( √
𝑚𝑇1 = 6𝑘2 + 4𝑘 + 2 (14) 3
) 3 ( )5
𝐹𝑚𝑆 = 4.7801𝜎0 9𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 2 (9𝑘2 − 𝑘 + 1)(4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1) 𝑙0 𝑡0

𝑚𝑇2 = 4𝑘 − 4 (15) (29)

While for KHH3 , the sections dissipating energy can be divided into
𝑚𝑇3 = 2(𝑘 − 1)2 (16) the corner parts and X-shaped parts. The number of folding units are
shown as follows
After obtaining the length of the three energy absorption units,
the energy of each part can be calculated based on numbers of each 𝑚𝐻
1
= 12𝑘2 + 40𝑘 − 10 (30)
energy absorption regions [29,46,47]. Finally, the energy dissipated by 2
𝑚𝐻 = 15𝑘 − 20𝑘 + 5 (31)
different regions can be expressed as follow 2
( 𝑇 )2 Similarly, the length of each unit is obtained, and the energy of each
𝐻 𝑇 𝑏𝑇 2𝜋𝑀0 𝑙0 𝐻
𝐸𝐼𝑇 = 16.8𝑀0 𝑇 + + 9.56𝑀0 (17) part can be calculated according to the localized regions. The equations
𝑡 3 𝑏𝑇 of energy dissipated by the two folding units were calculated. Using
( 𝑇 )2
𝑇 𝐻 𝑇 𝑏𝑇 4𝜋𝑀0 𝑙0 𝐻 𝐻 𝐻 and 𝑡𝐻 to represent half-wave length and wall thickness of KHH3 ,
𝐸𝐼𝐼 = 33.6𝑀0 𝑇 + + 19.12𝑀0 (18)
𝑡 3 𝑏𝑇 respectively. After obtaining the total internal plastic energy dissipated
( 𝑇 )2 by KHH3 , the mean crushing force and half-wave length of KHH3 can
𝑇 𝐻 𝑇 𝑏𝑇 𝐻
𝐸𝐼𝐼𝐼 = 67.2𝑀0 𝑇 + 2𝜋𝑀0 𝑙0 + 47.8𝑀0 (19) be described as follows
𝑡 𝑏𝑇 √ √
where 𝐸𝐼𝑇 , 𝐸𝐼𝐼
𝑇 and 𝐸 𝑇 represent the energy dissipated by the corner- 𝐻 𝑘2 3 ( )2
𝐼𝐼𝐼 𝐻 = 1.0486 3 𝑙 0 𝑡0 (32)
shaped, four-edged and star-shaped units, respectively. 𝐻 𝑇 and 𝑡𝑇 (57𝑘2 − 20𝑘 + 5)
√ √
denote the half-wave length and wall thickness, respectively. 3 3 ( )5
𝑇 can be summed up below
Thus, the total energy 𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐹𝑚𝐻 = 31.5118𝜎0 𝑘4 (57𝑘2 − 20𝑘 + 5) 𝑙0 𝑡0 (33)

𝑇 The same method was applied to establish theoretical model for con-
𝐸𝑖𝑛𝑡 = 𝑚𝑇1 𝐸𝐼𝑇 + 𝑚𝑇2 𝐸𝐼𝐼
𝑇
+ 𝑚𝑇3 𝐸𝐼𝐼𝐼
𝑇
(20)
ventional triangular, square and hexagonal honeycombs, with the mean
𝑇 , 𝐹 𝑆 and 𝐹 𝐻 . The energy-absorbing units
crushing force labeled as 𝐹𝑚0
Then, by submitting the equation Eqs. (14)–(19) into Eq. (20), the 𝑚0 𝑚0
total internal plastic energy dissipated by the present structure can be are more common than that of the fractal-like honeycombs [29,46,47].
obtained. The external work 𝑊𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑇 can be calculated as The derived formulas are shown as below
√ √
𝑇 3 3 ( )5
𝑊𝑒𝑥𝑡 = 2𝐹𝑚𝑇 𝐻 𝑇 (21) 𝑇
𝐹𝑚0 = 3.7614𝜎0 (𝑘2 + 𝑘 − 1)(3𝑘2 + 4𝑘 − 1)(3𝑘2 + 2𝑘 − 1) 𝑙0 𝑡0 (34)

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Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al. Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759

Fig. 8. Theoretical solution spectra of conventional patterns (TH, SH, and HH) and optimal fractal-like honeycombs (KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3 ) with 𝑘 ranging from 4 to 10. (a)
Curves of mean crushing force versus 𝑘. (b) Curves of half-wave length versus 𝑘.

√ √
𝑆 3 3 3 ( )5 Table 5
𝐹𝑚0 = 6.0225𝜎0 𝑘 (𝑘 + 1)(𝑘2 + 1) 𝑙0 𝑡0 (35)
Theoretical solutions of mean crushing force and half-wave length for KSH4 , KSH3 and
KHH3 .
√ √ √ √( )
3 3 ( )5 4
𝐻 𝑇 = 0.0498 3 7𝑘2 −2𝑘+1𝑘 (4𝑘2 −2𝑘+1)
3 2
𝑙 0 𝑡0
𝐻
𝐹𝑚0 = 4.7390𝜎0 𝑘2 (2𝑘 + 1)3 (3𝑘 + 1) 𝑙0 𝑡0 (36) Half-wave ( )
√ √( )
length (9𝑘2 −𝑘+1)2 3 2
Similarly, the half-wave length can be calculated accordingly as 𝐻 𝑆 = 0.3286 3 (9𝑘2 −2𝑘+2)(4𝑘 2 −2𝑘+1)
𝑙0 𝑡0
√ √( )
shown in Eqs. (37)∼(39). 𝑘2
𝐻 𝐻 = 1.0486 3 (57𝑘2 −20𝑘+5)
3 2
𝑙 0 𝑡0
√ √ ( )
√ ( )2 √ √ ( )
√ 3𝑘2 + 4𝑘 − 1 3 ( )2 𝐹𝑚𝑇 = 11.9416𝜎0 3 𝑘2 7𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1 (4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1) 𝑙0 𝑡0
3 5
𝑇 √
3 Mean
𝐻0 = 0.3132 ( )( ) 𝑙0 𝑡0 (37) crushing √ ( ) ( )√ ( )5
2 2
𝑘 + 𝑘 − 1 3𝑘 + 2𝑘 − 2 𝐹𝑚𝑆 = 4.7801𝜎0 3 (9𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 2) 9𝑘2 − 𝑘 + 1 4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1 𝑙0 𝑡0
3

force
√ √ √ √ ( )5
(𝑘 + 1)2 3 ( )2
3
𝐹𝑚𝐻 = 31.5118𝜎0 3 𝑘4 (57𝑘2 − 20𝑘 + 5) 𝑙0 𝑡0
𝐻0𝑆 = 0.7825 3 𝑙0 𝑡0 (38)
(𝑘2 + 1)
√
2√ Table 6
3 (3𝑘 + 1) 3 ( )2
𝐻0𝐻 = 0.249 𝑙0 𝑡0 (39) Formulas for calculating SEA of conventional honeycombs (TH, SH and HH) and
𝑘 2 corresponding optimal proposed structures (KTH3 , KSH3 and KHH3 ).
√ 2 ( )2∕3
Based on the above results, the formulas of the mean load and 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑇 = 7.5228 3 (𝑘 +𝑘−1)(3𝑘
2 +2𝑘−1) 𝑡0 𝜎0
Triangular (3𝑘2 +4𝑘−1)2 𝑙0 𝜌
half-wave length of the optimal fractal-like honeycombs are listed in √ ( )
𝑇 3 (7𝑘 −2𝑘+1)(4𝑘 −2𝑘+1) 𝑡0 2∕3 𝜎0
2 2

Table 5. Obviously, the equations hold the same pattern for each 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝐾𝑜𝑐ℎ = 2.9854 𝑘4 𝑙 𝜌0

criterion. The same form is shown for mean load with the power of √ 2 ( )2∕3
𝑡0 𝜎0
𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑆 = 3.0112 3 (𝑘 +1)
1/3 for 𝑙0 and 5/3 for 𝑡0 . The equations form of half-wave length also Square √
(𝑘+1)2 𝑙0 𝜌

(9𝑘2 −2𝑘+2)(4𝑘2 −2𝑘+1)

( )2∕3
are uniform, with the power of 𝑙0 and 𝑡0 equaling of 2/3 and 1/3, 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑆𝐾𝑜𝑐ℎ = 7.1701 3 2
𝑡0 𝜎0
(9𝑘2 −𝑘+1) 𝑙0 𝜌
respectively. The differences between the formulas depend on their √ 2 ( )2∕3
𝑘 𝑡0 𝜎0
coefficients and different items of 𝑘. Further analysis was performed 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝐻 = 9.478 3 (3𝑘+1) 2
Hexagonal 𝑙0 𝜌
by comparing analytical solutions (see Fig. 8). For each pattern, the √ ( )2∕3
2
3 (57𝑘 −20𝑘+5) 𝑡0 𝜎0
𝑆𝐸𝐴𝐻 = 2.2508
parameters are same with the numerical simulations. 𝑘 ranges from 4 𝐾𝑜𝑐ℎ 𝑘2 0 𝑙 𝜌

to 10. This shows the theoretical solution spectrums of mean crushing

force and half-wave length of conventional honeycombs (TH, SH, and
√ ( )
HH) and the optimal fractal-like ones (KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3 ). From √
√ (𝑘 + 1)2 (9𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 2) 4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1
Fig. 8(a), the load-bearing ability is much higher. The half-wave length 𝑆
𝜉 = 2.3811 √
3
(41)
( )( )2
of fractal-like honeycombs is smaller no matter which the pattern is 𝑘2 + 1 9𝑘2 − 𝑘 + 1
(see Fig. 8(b)). Taking the square pattern as an example, the smallest √ ( )
2
3 (3𝑘 + 1) 57𝑘2 − 20𝑘 + 5
half-wave length of KSH3 is about 0.88 when 𝑘 is 10, while the figure 𝐻
𝜉 = 0.2375 (42)
of the conventional counterpart (SH) is 1.7. This corresponds with 𝑘4
the regularity found in the lobes forming details as seen in Fig. 6. In the case of different cell numbers, the results of SEA are shown
Additionally, no obvious changes can be seen from the half-wave length in Fig. 9. It can be observed that the ratios all exceed 1.7 times.
with the changing 𝑘. This phenomenon is to be discussed in Section 5.3. Especially for KSH3 , when cell number is small, SEA increment is close
For further revealing the folding mechanism under their different
to 2 times and the change is the most apparent, while the influence
energy performance, SEA of the proposed structures over the length of
of cell number on SEA increment for KTH4 is the smallest. The three
2𝐻 crushing distance is compared. The analytical solutions were cal-
structures all conform the regularity that the enhancement of SEA gets
culated and shown in Table 6. For example, 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑇 and 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑇𝐾𝑜𝑐ℎ refer
slowly with the increase of cell number. The convergence phenomenon
to the SEA of regular and fractal triangular honeycombs, respectively.
For comparing directly, the ratio of SEA of fractal-like honeycombs to is evident when 𝑘 is 8. A, B and C marked on the curves to represent
conventional counterparts were calculated as seen from Eqs. (40)∼(42). the SEA increment of hexagonal, square and triangular honeycombs,
For instance, 𝜉 𝑇 represents the ratio of 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑇𝐾𝑜𝑐ℎ to 𝑆𝐸𝐴𝑇 . 𝜉 𝑆 and 𝜉 𝐻 respectively. The six structures compared here possess different cross-
are SEA increment accordingly. sectional geometries, so their folding units are different in quantity,
√ length and plastic collapse modes, thereby leading to different energy
√( )( )( )2
√ 7𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1 4𝑘2 − 2𝑘 + 1 3𝑘2 + 4𝑘 − 1
𝑇 √3 absorption performance of the whole structure. This is coincident with
𝜉 = 0.3968 ( )( ) (40)
𝑘4 𝑘2 + 𝑘 − 1 3𝑘2 + 2𝑘 − 1 the analysis on comparisons of folding lobes. Based on the above

9
Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al.
Fig. 9. Enhancement times of SEA of KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3 calculated by theoretical
model. A, B and C represent the increment of hexagonal, square and triangular pattern
when 𝑘 is 8, respectively (𝑡0 = 0.1 mm and 𝑙0 = 9 mm).
analyses, the theoretical solutions calculated based on the folding the-
ory apparently reveals the strengthening mechanism of the fractal-like
structures.
5.2.2. Correlation of analytical solutions with simulations
To validate the accuracy of theoretical models established in this
study, verification was carried out in this study by means of comparing
the solutions with FE data. As shown in Fig. 10, the mean crushing
force obtained by theoretical models and numerical simulations are
represented in different ways.
The columns in Fig. 10(a) plots the improvement times of mean
crushing force calculated by analytical solutions and simulations (𝑡0 =
0.1 mm and 𝑙0 = 9 mm). The increment times are ratios of mean loads
of optimal fractal-like honeycombs (KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3 ) to that of
corresponding conventional ones (SH, TH and HH). For example, for
KTH4 , the promotion calculated by theoretical and numerical approach
is 4.03 times and 4.19 times respectively, which are the ratios of results
of fractal-like honeycombs (21.67 kN and 24.09 kN) to conventional
ones (5.38 kN and 5.75 kN), respectively. The error between them is
only around 4%. The two equal columns locate at 1.0 represent the
normalized results of conventional structures. Similarly, the columns in
Fig. 10(b) show the improvement times of normalized SEA under two
methods. The figures are the ratios of SEA of the novel honeycombs to
conventional counterparts. It can be observed that, no matter for the
Fig. 10. Correlation of analytical solutions and numerical results. (a) The columns show increment times of mean crushing force. The curves are normalized mean force for KHH3
calculated with 𝜂 from 0.005 to 0.013. (b) The columns show increment times of SEA by two methods. The curves are normalized SEA for KHH3 calculated with 𝜂 from 0.005 to
0.013.
10
Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759
mean crushing force or SEA, a great agreement is observed between
analytical solutions and numerical results, indicating the theoretical
model proposed in this study is accurate and reliable.
Furthermore, the analytical solutions and simulated results of the
specific structure (KHH3) were compared for further validating the
model, as observed from the curves in Fig. 10. Since the analytical
solutions of the mean load here is calculated based on the static theory,
the normalized mean force and SEA were applied (see Eqs. (43)–(44))
for the purpose of eliminating the inertial effects.
𝐹𝜂𝑖
𝑁𝐹 = (43)
𝐹𝜂0
𝑆𝐸𝐴𝜂𝑖
𝑁𝑆𝐸𝐴 = (44)
𝑆𝐸𝐴𝜂0
where 𝜂𝑖 means the ratio of thickness to initial edge length (𝜂𝑖 = 𝑡𝑖 ∕𝑙0 ,
i = 1, 2, 3, 4). 𝜂0 is 0.005 obtained with thickness of 0.045 mm; 𝜂1 ,
𝜂2 , 𝜂3 and 𝜂4 are obtained by numerical results at 0.007, 0.009, 0.011
and 0.013, respectively. Theoretical results were obtained when 𝜂 starts
from 0.005 to 0.013. It is found that the results under two approaches
also get a good agreement not only with respect to the mean crushing
force (Fig. 10(a)) but also in relation to SEA (Fig. 10(b)). Therefore,
based on the above analysis, the theoretical and numerical models
verify each other very well. The models constructed in this study are
reliable.
5.3. Influence of cell number
Detailed analyses of cell number (𝑘) were performed here as it
has influence on the half-wave length that is hugely significant for
obtaining favorable collapse mode and higher mean crushing force.
Here, the effect of 𝑘 was studied for KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3 .
Based on the previous equations, the analytical solutions of half-
wave length can be calculated with 𝑘 ranging from 4 to 40 (ℎ0 = 9
mm and 𝑡0 = 1 mm). The normalized half-wave length of the three
structures are obtained, as shown in Fig. 11. The normalized method
is the same with that applied in Fig. 10. That means the normalized
figures in Fig. 11 are the ratios of real half-wave length to the value
when 𝑘 is 4. It can be observed that, the results of these structures show
the same trend that the figure locates at the highest point when 𝑘 is the
smallest and then decreases with the growth of 𝑘. But the decreasing
trend becomes more moderate gradually. The scale of the vertical axis
in Fig. 11 starts from 0.94 for higher readability. In fact, the adjacent
values of half-wave length of each structure have a tiny difference. For
example, for KTH4 , the relative error is 0.34% between 𝑘 = 8 and 𝑘 = 9.
And the error is 0.22% and 0.16% for KSH3 and KHH3 , respectively.
This also can be learned that the hexagonal pattern is easier to reach the
plateau stage and maintains stable. In summary, the present structures
Z. Li, L. Shen, K. Wei et al.
Fig. 11. Normalized half-wave length versus cell numbers (𝑘) curves. With the growth
of 𝑘, its effect on half-wave length of KTH4 , KSH3 and KHH3 becomes weak.
coincide with the fact that the half-wave length becomes less relevant
with bigger cell number. In this study, it is appropriate to conduct a
numerical investigation when 𝑘 = 8.
6. Conclusion
The compressive behavior of fractal-like honeycombs with different
array configurations subjected to axial loading was investigated. Based
on the above analyses, some conclusions can be drawn as follows.
(1) Compared with the conventional honeycombs, substantial im-
provements on energy absorption performance are obtained for the
proposed fractal-like counterparts. All the proposed fractal-like struc-
tures yield higher SEA and CFE. The increment of SEA is up to about
85%, 110% and 95% for triangular, square and hexagonal honeycombs,
respectively. This fractal-like design applied to cellular honeycombs is
effective on promoting plastic energy absorption.
(2) Array configurations are significant for fractal-like honeycombs.
Different cross-sectional geometries have different folding units in
quantities, energy dissipation modes and capacities, thereby leading
to different folding performance of the whole structure. The specific
folding units contribute greatly to realize higher folding efficiency
and energy dissipation. The optimal configurations show higher SEA,
CFE and stability. For triangular pattern, KTH4 outperforms other
structures; for the square and hexagonal honeycombs, the oblique array
configuration outperforms the other configurations.
(3) The lobes forming process of fractal-like honeycombs is more
stable and successive with thinner wave length, showing more lobes
and wall interactions, thereby achieving favorable energy absorption
characteristics. The conventional counterparts have many empty spaces
remained in unit cells. For the energy-dissipating units of fractal-like
honeycombs, the walls interactions of them are stronger. This promo-
tion directly leads to the local enhancement, which contributes to the
mechanical enhancement of the whole structure.
(4) Theoretical analysis reveals the underlying mechanism of the
mechanical improvement in depth. According to the analytical solu-
tions, the proposed structures offer higher load bearing ability and
smaller half-wave length. The optimal structures all get substantial in-
crement in SEA. KSH3 and KHH3 show evident SEA increment, followed
by KTH4 . KSH3 performs apparent change of SEA increment in small
𝑘. They all have the same trend that SEA increment gets slowly with
the increase of cell numbers. The influence of 𝑘 on half-wave length
becomes weaker as it grows.
Based on this study, it is confirmed that introducing fractal ge-
ometry to thin-walled structures is a successful attempt in terms of
11
Thin-Walled Structures 163 (2021) 107759
energy absorption performance. The future work can focus on designing
diverse fractal-like structures or exploring the underlying mechani-
cal mechanism. In addition, more engineering applications could be
explored.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Zhendong Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Theoretical model,
Writing - original draft. Luming Shen: Theoretical model, Numeri-
cal simulation. Kai Wei: Formal analysis, Data curation. Zhonggang
Wang: Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Supervision, Funding
acquisition.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by The National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (51875581); Hunan Provincial Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (2020JJ3049); Independent Research Project
of State Key Laboratory of Central South University, China
(ZZYJKT2020-05); Postgraduate Innovative Project of Central South
University (204201029). The authors would like to express their thanks.
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