Abstract:A novel type of easily prepared adhesive multi-cell tube is investigated experimentally and numerically in this paper. The deformation and energy absorption performance of the multi-cell tubes under three-point bending loads are analyzed. The quasi-static three-point bending tests reveal that the energy absorption capacity of adhesive multi-cell tubes is generally higher than the summation of their constituent single-cell tubes and in some case up to 70% can be achieved due to the effect of adhesive. Numerical simulations of the three-point bending tests are conducted by LSDYNA. The simulated deformation pattern and punch force-displacement curves are in good agreement with experiment results. In addition, three different interface conditions are simulated to analyze and compare the response of adhesive multi-cell tubes. Results show that energy absorption characteristics of adhesive multi-cell tubes are comparable to traditional multi-cell tubes if there is no obvious adhesive detachment. Otherwise the performances of adhesive multi-cell tubes will be seriously weakened.