Modern railway vehicles usually provide areas that are sacrificed in a crash, thus confining damage to parts of the structure that are easily repaired. In this paper the 'Crashmanager' names a structural part of such a crash area with the task to distribute or 'manage' the impact energy so as to make best use of the restricted space available. The crashmanager as a design principle is an approach to influence the deformation pattern of structures. It has been effectively used to notably improve the crashworthiness of a rail vehicle. Originally, the principle was developed for mass transportation applications, however, due to its general nature, it can also be used for crash performance optimisation in the automotive field. The presented design principle uses impact energy inherent to a crash to inflict an advantageous deformation pattern on a structure by formation of plastic hinges. It might take the form of an additional structural part or might be formed by modified integral part of a structure. It may be included in the design of new vehicle structures or be used to adapt eider vehicles to new crash requirements. It is a means to manipulate the deformation pattern of a structure without the necessity to weaken it with respect to its static strength although it might be used in combination with conventional methods. It can stabilise the crash behaviour of a structure with respect to the direction of the impact. In summary, it helps to make best use of restricted space available in crash areas by involving substructures in these areas that might otherwise not contribute to energy dissipation.
Crashmanager - a means to optimise energy dissipation
Crashmanager - Eine Möglichkeit zur Optimierung der Energie-Dissipation
2002
5 Seiten, 5 Bilder
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch