In this paper, compression behaviour and energy absorption of aluminium alloy AA7005 and AA7003 tubes were investigated both experimentally and numerically. LS-DYNA software was used for the static and dynamic simulations of AA7005, AA7003, AA6061 and high strength steel (DP800) tubes of equal dimensions. True stress-plastic strain curves at different strain rates from the literature were used in the dynamic simulations of AA7003 and DP800 tubes. Dynamic simulations were done with drop velocity from 7 to 15 m/s to understand the inertia and strain rate effects on energy absorption. The peak loads and energy absorption values between experimental compression results and numeral simulation are found to be in good agreement. The simulation results show the energy absorption characteristics of AA7XXX tubes are better than that of AA6061 and DP800 tubes based on specific energy. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.