In-Plane Crushing Performance of Bionic Glass Sponge-Type Honeycomb Structures

Honeycomb structures are commonly adopted due to their superior energy absorption capacity. In this study, a new bionic glass sponge-type honeycomb structure (BSH) with a quadrilateral octagonal mesh microstructure inspired by the sea sponge structure was proposed. The in-plane crushing performance of the BSH with different geometrical parameters under different crushing speeds was investigated by ABAQUS/Explicit. The numerical findings suggested that the BSH displayed stronger energy absorption in contrast to the square, hexagonal and hierarchical honeycombs at both quasi-static and dynamic crushing conditions. More plastic hinges and more unit walls involved in deformation resulted in a high energy absorption capacity. In addition, three typical deformation modes of the BSH under different loading speeds were discussed, and the empirical model to predict the plateau stress of the BSH was established based on the shock wave theory. Finally, the effect of boundary segmentation parameter m on crushing performance was also illustrated. The energy absorption capacity reaches a maximum at m = 3 for quasi-static loading, whereas at m = 5 for dynamic loading. These findings provide valuable insights into the optimization of bionic honeycombs.