Physics–Data-Driven Crashworthiness Design of Slotted Circular Tubes for Airdrop Cushioning Energy Absorption in Transport Vehicles

When ground transportation is disrupted by natural disasters, airdropped rescue vehicles require energy-absorbing cushioning devices to prevent landing impact damage. Thin-walled circular tubes are preferred for their high energy absorption capacity and structural efficiency. However, to reduce platform force fluctuations and decrease residual stroke after compression, thereby avoiding unbalanced loading and ensuring post-landing mobility, slots are introduced into the tube wall, which renders the mean crushing force (MCF) difficult to predict accurately using conventional methods. To address this issue, this paper proposes a physics–data-driven method for predicting the energy absorption characteristics of slotted thin-walled circular tubes. The engineering scenario is introduced, followed by comparative validation via drop weight tests and impact simulations to obtain a sample set via design of experiments (DOE). A multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network then augments the samples to generate a dataset. Dimensional analysis yields candidate MCF prediction equations, whose forms and coefficients are determined via a physics–data-driven approach. Weighted graph encoding transforms the equation-solving problem into a graph optimization problem to reduce the computational complexity, and an improved differential evolution (DE) algorithm with a dual-adaptive mutation operator (DSADE) adjusts the parameters and accelerates convergence. The resulting MCF prediction formula, combined with drop test requirements as the optimization objective, achieves a simulation relative error below 5%. These parameters also satisfy engineering requirements in actual airdrop tests, confirming the method’s effectiveness in predicting the energy absorption characteristics of slotted thin-walled tubes.