Crash simulation of a vertical drop test of a commuter-class aircraft

A finite element model of an ATR42-300 commuter-class aircraft was developed and a crash simulation was executed. Analytical predictions were correlated with data obtained from a 30 ft/s (9.14 m/s) vertical drop test of the aircraft. The purpose of the test was to evaluate the structural response of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of crashworthiness 2005-01, Vol.10 (2), p.173-182
Main Authors: Jackson, K E, Fasanella, E L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aircraft crash testing and simulation
crashworthiness
LS-DYNA
nonlinear explicit
test-analysis correlation
transient dynamic finite element simulation
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Summary:A finite element model of an ATR42-300 commuter-class aircraft was developed and a crash simulation was executed. Analytical predictions were correlated with data obtained from a 30 ft/s (9.14 m/s) vertical drop test of the aircraft. The purpose of the test was to evaluate the structural response of the aircraft when subjected to a severe, but survivable, impact. The aircraft was configured with seats, dummies, luggage, and other ballast. The wings were filled with 8,700 lb. (3,946 kg) of water to represent the fuel. The finite element model, which consisted of 57,643 nodes and 62,979 elements, was developed from direct measurements of the airframe geometry. The seats, dummies, luggage, fuel, and other ballast were represented using concentrated masses. The model was executed in LS-DYNA, a commercial code for performing explicit transient dynamic simulations. Predictions of structural deformation and selected time-history responses were generated. The simulation was successfully validated through extensive test-analysis correlation.
ISSN:1358-8265
1754-2111
DOI:10.1533/ijcr.2005.0336