Energy Absorption Properties of Shell Negative Stiffness Structure

A shell surface negative stiffness structure (abbreviated as shell structure) is presented. Through uniaxial loading–unloading experiments, cyclic compression–tension experiments, and numerical simulation, shell structure's deformation and loading characteristics, single energy absorption, and total energy absorption properties are analyzed. Shell structure easily obtains bi‐stability, which only satisfies the simplified bi‐stable condition compared with a single curved beam structure and shows superior resistance stability in the negative stiffness stage. Shell structure's energy absorption values per mass and per volume are larger than those of a single curved beam structure. The influence of structural parameters of surface thickness, surface height, and column radius‐beam span ratio on structural energy absorption capacity is analyzed. In cyclic compression–tension experiments, when compressive displacement is h and h/2 , respectively, the shell structure undergoes four and nine times cyclic compression–tension action by experiment. The total energy absorption value is largest when the displacement value is h rather than h /2. The shell structure proposed in this article obtains better energy absorption performance, and the conditions for its bi‐stable performance are further simplified, reducing the preparation requirements for the bi‐stable negative stiffness structure and enhancing its core competitiveness in the energy absorption field.