ONGOING ACTIVITIES

• Refinement of cabin safety numerical models based on drop test campaign on specimens including subfloor, seta and anthopomorhic dummy.
• Design of structures minimising the bird impact damage, based on FE analysis and gas gun shots; characterisation of suitable ballistic gel for future use in experimental testing in place of bird cadavers.
• Use of hybrid models, based on mixed finite element and lumped mass parts, for the analysis of large rotorcraft sections including cabin, subfloor, seats and anthropomorphic devices; optimisation of energy absorption mechanical parameters, aimed at injury risk minimisation, by fast analysis techniques.
• Use of human total body models for the study of injury criteria and comparison with anthropomorphic test dummy based criteria.

FUTURE PLANS

• Improvement of bird strike modelling technique.
• Co-operation with industrial partner for the refinement of an innovative helicopter crashworthy seat, finalised to EASA certification.
• Study of new constitutive laws for Al alloys for a better finite element analysis of fracture propagation.
• Experimental testing and finite element modelling of riveted junctions in static and dynamic conditions.
• Experimental testing and finite element modelling of chiral structures in static and dynamic conditions, aimed at crash energy absorption.
• Application of optimisation strategies to numerical models (hybrid and lumped masses) of more extended rotorcraft sections, including the three main energy absorbing stages of seat, subfloor and landing gear.

ERC KEYWORDS

• PE8-13 Lightweight construction, textile technology
• PE8-8 Mechanical and manufacturing engineering (shaping, mounting, joining, separation)
• PE8-4 Computational Engineering
• PE8-1 Aerospace Engineering

FREE KEYWORDS

• Crashworthiness
• Structural impact