Development of a passenger rail vehicle crush zone

Abstract

The use of crush zones in passenger rail vehicles is rapidly growing in the United States and throughout the world. Such crush zones are an important part of the crash energy management philosophy of train occupant protection. The objective of this study was to determine the advantages, disadvantages and issues related to incorporating crush zones at the ends of coach cars for protection in collisions between two trains. The general specifications for the crush zone were selected after consideration of the energy and forces that can be accommodated in such structures. Various designs were considered to meet these requirements and one of these was selected for more detailed development and evaluation. The effort included design layout and nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis to determine crush response.