Abstract: In order to improve the crashworthiness performance of thin-wall tube, the oxhorn is taken as a biological prototype to analyze the similarity between oxhorn and thin-wall tube. The feature structures of the oxhorn against collision are extracted. These feature structures are applied to the design of bionic thin-wall tube. The nonlinear finite element method is used to study the deformation mode and energy-absorption properties of the bionic tube. The results show that the deformation mode of the bionic tube is asymptotic telescoping deformation. The specific energy-absorption of the bionic tube is 46.2 kJ/kg, which is about 1.3 times and 1.8 times higher than the four cell conical tube and conical tube. The crashworthiness performance of the bionic tube improves as the thickness of the core increases. When the collision happens in transverse, the crashworthiness performance of the bionic tube is better than the four cell tube and general conical tube, and its specific energy absorption is 10.4 kJ/kg. The crashworthiness performance of the bionic tube may provide reference for the design of energy-absorption components of vehicle.

Key words: engineering bionics, cow horn, bionic, specific energy absorption, crashworthiness, deformation mode