Theoretical prediction of the progressive buckling and energy absorption of the sinusoidal corrugated tube subjected to axial crushing

•Quasi-static theoretical prediction is proposed to predict the corrugated tube.•The eccentricity factor and the amplitude factor are considered.•The theoretical result can predict the axisymmetric mode of the circular tube.•The theoretical results are validated by numerical and experimental. A theoretical study is conducted to predict the progressive buckling and energy absorption of the sinusoidal corrugated tube subjected to axial crushing. Based on the super folding element theory, the stationary plastic hinge mechanism is proposed. The theoretical prediction of the progressive buckling and energy absorption is proposed by taking the eccentricity factor and amplitude factor into account. In the theoretical analysis, the idealized elastic-plastic material model is adopted and strain hardening effect is employed. Also, the new lower bound and upper bound of the solutions for the mean crushing force are obtained. The theoretical result can predict the crushing behavior of the circular tube which produces the axisymmetric ring mode under axial crushing. The mean crushing force is related to the eccentricity factor and the amplitude factor, but the total energy is independent of the eccentricity factor. The theoretical results are compared well with the numerical and experimental results of previous studies. The theoretical predicts of corrugated tube produce excellent characteristics in term of force-consistent and low crushing force and provide a reference to the research of the progressive buckling and energy absorption of corrugated tube subjected to axial crushing.