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-feet per second (9.14-meters per second) 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 kilograms) 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, simulated engines and fuel, and other ballast were represented using concentrated masses. The model was executed in LS-DYNA, a commercial finite element code for performing explicit transient dynamic simulations. Analytical predictions of structural deformation and selected time-history responses were correlated with experimental data from the drop test to validate the simulation.
[1]
Ted Belytschko,et al.
On Computational Methods for Crashworthiness
,
1988
.
[2]
Allan Abramowitz,et al.
Vertical Drop Test of a Narrow-Body Transport Fuselage Section with Overhead Stowage Bins
,
2002
.
[3]
Edwin L. Fasanella,et al.
Crash Simulation of Vertical Drop Tests of Two Boeing 737 Fuselage Sections
,
2002
.
[4]
Ahmed K. Noor,et al.
Computational Methods for Crashworthiness
,
1993
.
[5]
L Fasanella Edwin,et al.
Crash Simulation of a Vertical Drop Test of a B737 Fuselage Section With Overhead Bins and Luggage
,
2001
.
[6]
Edwin L. Fasanella,et al.
Development of an LS-DYNA Model of an ATR42-300 Aircraft for Crash Simulation
,
2004
.