Evaluation of the Biomechanical Responses During an Aircraft Emergency Landing

Abstract

Passengers’ safety in unconventional situations, such as those of an emergency landing, has become more and more important due to the increase of air traffic. To improve passengers’ safety, certification authorities have imposed specific crashworthiness requirements in airworthiness regulations as defined in Title 14 of Federal Regulations Code—Part 25 for transport aircraft. Over the years, a series of drop tests were carried out to evaluate the structural performance of the airframe and seats and their effects on the occupants. However, the development of a single test is not only time-consuming but also very expensive. In this context, computer modelling and simulation have become increasingly popular for efficient and quick investigations on aircraft’s dynamic behaviour. This study aims to develop a numerical procedure to assess passengers’ safety during a crash landing and optimize the occupant lumbar load for which the impacts of different seat cushion foams are analysed. The experimental data have been collected as part of the research project, which involved the Department of Industrial Engineering Federico II on a drop test of a full-scale fuselage section equipped with two Anthropomorphic Test Devices (ATDs). The finite element model of the test article is generated through the pre/post-processor LS-PREPOST® and is solved using the non-linear explicit dynamic finite element code LS-DYNA®. The parametric study confirms the importance of choosing the appropriate foam material of the aeronautical seat cushion, as it has been observed that DAX 55 foams resulted in a lumbar load peak reduced by 20.6% with reference to the conventional polyurethane foam.