Crashworthiness Evaluation of 3D-Printed Hybrid-Design Multi-Cell Energy Absorbers Under Lateral Compression for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Energy absorbers can be strategically integrated into critical areas of unmanned aerial vehicles to protect their structural integrity and electronic components in the event of an accident. In this study, hybrid-design multi-cell energy absorber configurations were proposed, and their crashworthiness performance and collapse mechanisms were comparatively analyzed. Hybrid energy absorbers were designed considering circular, square, hexagonal, and re-entrant unit cell geometries. The energy absorber configurations were produced via additive manufacturing. Compared to the single-cell circular energy absorber, the hybrid-design multi-cell approach resulted in a higher peak crushing force value, while offering considerable enhancements in other crashworthiness parameters. Configuration 3 is recommended for use in energy absorber applications in unmanned aerial vehicles due to its superior crashworthiness performance. Moreover, in hybrid-design multi-cell energy absorbers, the selection of layer geometries significantly influences deformation capability. Compared to the single-cell circular configuration (Configuration 1), Configuration 3 demonstrated superior crashworthiness performance by increasing the MCF, EA, and SEA values by 7.47, 4.47, and 1.41 times, respectively.