Design of a large deformable obstacle for railway crash simulations according to the applicable standard

Abstract

This article discusses the design of a deformable obstacle to be used in simulated rail and road vehicle collisions as prescribed by scenario 3 specified by standard ČSN EN 15227. To approve a vehicle in accordance with this standard, it is necessary to carry out numeric simulations of its collision with a large obstacle, following the standard’s specification. A simulated impact of a rigid ball into the obstacle is used to calibrate the obstacle’s properties, and the standard specifies limit deformation characteristics for that collision. The closer are the deformation characteristics observed in the test to the limit characteristics prescribed by the standard, the more favorable results can be expected when using the obstacle in actual numeric simulations of frontal impacts of rail vehicles. There are multiple ways to design a FEM model of the obstacle; this article discusses one of those. It shows that given a suitable definition of material properties, this particular approach yields quite favorable deformation characteristics.