Local buckling, post-buckling and energy dissipation of a sandwich box column was investigated computationally. Box steel columns are widely used as crushing tubes to improve automotive crashworthiness and passenger safety. Sandwich panels, with steel face sheets and soft core, may enhance energy dissipation and crashworthiness. Simulations, verified against published experimental results, were employed to assess the energy dissipation of sandwich panel columns. Computational results indicated noticeable gain in energy absorption over conventional solid steel tubes. Sandwich panels were shown to have better crashworthiness than standard steel tubes. Sandwich crushing tubes could enable lighter structures or enhanced resiliency if weight is not a controlling factor.
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