DEVELOPMENT, EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION, AND APPLICATION OF PROGRAM "KRASH" FOR GENERAL AVIATION AIRPLANE STRUCTURAL CRASH DYNAMICS

Abstract : Included in this report are the results of a three-task effort to develop, experimentally verify, and apply digital computer program KRASH to structure of general aviation airplanes subjected to a survivable crash environment. The Task I summary provides the essential results of: the evaluation of light fixed wing airplane, including operational velocity, weight, usage and occupant capacity; the evaluation of NTSB and CAMI accident data and an assessment of industry analytical requirements insofar as crash analysis is involved. The Task II summary presents the highlights of the full-scale test preparation, the crash test condition, the crash test results, the mathematical models used to represent the crash test condition, the correlation between analysis and test results and an overview description of the KRASH User's Manual. The Task III effort, including the parameter variation study and the application of program KRASH in the evaluation of structural design concepts during a survivable crash environment is presented in detail. The response of structure and occupants are obtained for different airplane configurations and impact condition and presented in the form of trend curves and time histories. Weight and implementation/operational cost penalties versus dynamic response changes are presented for different structural design changes. Conclusions developed as result of the three-task effort are presented. (Author)