Validated numerical unrestrained occupant-seat crash scenarios for high-speed trains integrating experimental, computational, and inverse methods

Abstract

Objective

Occupant impact safety is critical for train development. This paper proposes a systematic procedure for developing validated numerical occupant crash scenarios for high-speed trains by integrating experimental, computational, and inverse methods.

Methods

As the train interior is the most potentially injury-causing factor, the material properties were acquired by mechanical tests, and constitutive models were calibrated using inverse methods. The validity of the seat material constitutive model was further verified via drop tower tests. Finite element (FE) and multibody (MB) models of train occupant-seat interactions in frontal impact were established in LS-DYNA and MADYMO software, respectively, using the experimentally acquired materials/mechanical characteristics. Three dummy sled crash tests with different folding table and backrest configurations were conducted to validate the numerical occupant-seat models and to further assess occupant injury in train collisions. The occupant impact responses between dummy tests and simulations were quantitatively compared using a correlation and analysis (CORA) objective rating method.

Results

Results indicated that the experimentally calibrated numerical seat-occupant models could effectively reproduce the occupant responses in bullet train collisions (CORA scores >80%). Compared with the train seat-occupant MB model, the FE model could simulate the head acceleration with slightly more acceptable fidelity, however, the FE model CORA scores were slightly less than for the MB models. The maximum head acceleration was 30 g but the maximum HIC score was 17.4. When opening the folding table, the occupant’s chest injury was not obvious, but the neck-table contact and “chokehold” may potentially be severe and require further assessment.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the value of experimental data for occupant-seat model interactions in train collisions and provides practical help for train interior safety design and formulation of standards for rolling stock interior passive safety.

Keywords:

• Rail vehicle collision
• occupant injury response
• material mechanical tests
• dummy crash tests
• FE-MB simulations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We thankfully acknowledge the support of the ongoing ISO project of ISO/TC269/SC2 WG08 for rolling stock interior passive safety. This work was financially supported by Hunan Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (2021JJ10059), China Scholarship Council (202106370106), Major projects of CRRC (2022CYY003), and 2023 Guangxi Young and Middle-aged University Teachers’ Research Capability Enhancement Project (2023KY1446).