It is a fact that accidents sometimes occur in spite of developing safety equipment to prevent them. Over the past many years, a great deal of research projects on railway crashworthiness has been carried out especially in the United States and European countries. European standard EN 15227 which set the framework for structural crash worthiness design was published in 2009. On the other hand, the current Japanese structural standard for rolling stock (JIS E7106) provides no quantitative definition for crashworthiness. The authors therefore examined safety measures in order to ensure the minimum injury to passengers in the event of a train collision. The impact acceleration inside a vehicle generated in a collision (primary collision) is known as primary impact. Primary impact causes passengers to be thrown about in such an event. As passengers are hurled through the vehicle after impact, they come into contact with interior fittings or other passengers (secondary collision). Studies of primary collisions investigate carbody structure whereas examination of secondary collisions focuses on fittings and injuries to passenger inside the vehicles. RTRI has conducted both types of safety studies. This paper reports on a study into secondary collisions involving passengers. Passenger behavior on and around bench seats in the event of a level crossing accident was numerically simulated. The simulation was of a commuter train colliding with a 40-t truck at a speed of 30 km/h or 60 km/h. Analyses showed that passenger injuries were due to collision with other passengers. Clear demonstration was made that certain equipment, such as handrails or partitions installed along bench seats to separate passengers were effective in mitigating injury to passengers. Furthermore, analyses clearly showed that the shape of bench-end partitions and the length of overhead baggage racks in relation to the bench seats were also factors influencing degree of injury to passengers.
Simulation of passenger behavior on board a commuter train in the event of a level crossing accident
2013
10 Seiten, 11 Bilder
Conference paper
English
Simulation of Passenger Behavior on Board a Commuter Train in the Event of a Level Crossing Accident
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