2016 Volume 57 Issue 2 Pages 75-79
The Railway Technical Research Institute has conducted various types of research and development aimed at ensuring safety in the event of a train collision. These studies encompass two types of collision, namely, primary collisions and secondary collisions. Primary collisions refer to the impact between an obstacle and a carbody. Secondary collisions occur between interior fixtures and passengers (and drivers). For Primary collisions, an analytical method was developed to evaluate deformation behavior and amount energy absorbed by the carbody, following several fatal accidents. In the case of secondary collisions, a quantitative analysis was made of injuries to the driver, which was used to draft a set of guiding principles for carbody-structure design, geared to improve crashworthiness. Finally, this paper presents a method devised to accurately evaluate passenger injury using a FE model.