Abstract: Increasing the number of corners and introducing multicellular configuration can effectively increase the energy absorption characteristics of thin-walled energy-absorbing tubes. To obtain a thin-walled tube with superior crashworthiness, a new multicellular thin-walled tube was designed by imitating the "cake-cutting problem" through introducing three ribs. The different positions of the ribs divide the ordinary circular tube into several multicellular tubes with different structural forms. Numerical simulations are used to analyze the impact characteristics of tubes under the axial and oblique loading. The computational results show that: the cake-cutting heuristic multicellular tube has a more stable deformation mode under axial impacts, and its specific energy absorption is 46%, higher than that of the basic circular tube; the specific energy absorption under oblique impact at less than the critical loading angle is also significantly higher. Therefore, the "cake-cutting problem" heuristic multicellular design method provides an effective design idea for the design of thin-walled tubes.