E. Markiewicz et al., Evaluation of different simplified crash models: application to the under-frame of a railway driver's cab, INT J VEH D, 26(2-3), 2001, pp. 187-203
Due to the high cost and the practical difficulties of full scale rolling s
tock vehicle crash tests, numerical simulation proves to be a good alternat
ive. Finite element codes provide very satisfying results. Nevertheless, lo
ng modelling and Computation times implied by this local approach do not al
low this technology to be fully efficient in the early design stages. In th
ese cases, a more adequate solution is to use simplified models based on mu
ltibody systems. This approach requires the input of specific data for non-
linear bars and springs which are determined via experiments, finite elemen
t calculations, or in a more efficient way by analytical models. In a class
ical way, rigid multibody systems are used. We propose here to evaluate the
influence of the flexibility in simplified models, in terms of global resp
onses and computation times. The application to an under-frame of a railway
driver's cab shows that a multibody model using non-linear springs and ela
stic-plastic beam elements dedicated to thin-walled structures carry out th
e best compromise.