Citation

Kindervater CM, Kohlgruber D, Johnson A. Int. J. Crashworthiness 1999; 4(2): 213-230.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Composite vehicle crash resistance requires system design aspects. In aircraft this includes the airframe, the landing gear, seats and restraint systems, and overhead mass retention. However, design aspects will be focused in more detail on the airframe and airframe substructures, i.e. sub-floor beams, structural intersections, sub-floor sections and frames. The use of high performance composite materials needs specific design philosophy and concepts due to the brittle nature but high energy absorption (EA) capability of composites. Verified design concepts and evaluation of highly efficient EA and load bearing composite airframe components comprising impact conditions on rigid surface, soft soil, and water will be demonstrated. Also, for other vehicles - cars and trains - the use of composite materials in EA management systems is of interest due to the high weight saving potential and efficient EA design capability of composite structures. Analytical methods and predictive simulation tools will be described for evaluating the crash response of vehicles, in particular of aircraft structures. Attention is given to an explicit Finite Element (FE) code (PAM-CRASH) which is suited for more detailed local analysis of a substructure or structural element and to a hybrid code (KRASH), which is appropriate for global crash analysis of a complete vehicle structure. The simulation tools are briefly discussed and examples of crash simulations on aircraft structures and substructures are given. Correlation with crash data and simulation results are made.

Language: en