Evolving Crashworthiness Design Criteria

Carper, C. H.; Burrows, LeRoy T.

doi:10.21236/adp005801

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Mechanical failures were the leading cause, followed by inclement weather (Baker et al 2011 ). The U.S. Army has concentrated on the development of crashworthy helicopters to prevent fatalities (Shanahan 1993 ; Carper et al 1983 ; Gatlin et al 1971 ). In an Army report, Shanahan ( 1993 ) noted that injuries could be prevented by appropriate helicopter design to improve the strength of the cockpit and cabin, use of restraints, energy absorption capacity, and mitigation of local environmental factors (i.e., placement of objects that could cause injury near seats) and post-crash factors (i.e., extrication after water landing).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of fatal injuries in oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, 2004–2014

et al. 2020

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Background Transportation events are the most common cause of offshore fatalities in the oil and gas industry, of which helicopter accidents comprise the majority. Little is known about injury distributions in civilian helicopter crashes, and knowledge of injury distributions could focus research and recommendations for enhanced injury prevention and post-crash survival. This study describes the distribution of injuries among fatalities in Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents, provides a detailed injury classification to identify potential areas of enhanced safety design, and describes relevant safety features for mitigation of common injuries. Methods Decedents of accidents during 2004–2014 were identified, and autopsy reports were requested from responsible jurisdictions. Documented injuries were coded using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), and frequency and proportion of injuries by AIS body region and severity were calculated. Injuries were categorized into detailed body regions to target areas for prevention. Results A total of 35 autopsies were coded, with 568 injuries documented. Of these, 23.4% were lower extremity, 22.0% were thorax, 13.6% were upper extremity, and 13.4% were face injuries. Minor injuries were most prevalent in the face, neck, upper and lower extremities, and abdomen. Serious or worse injuries were most prevalent in the thorax (53.6%), spine (50.0%), head (41.7%), and external/other regions (75.0%). The most frequent injuries by detailed body regions were thoracic organ (23.0%), thoracic skeletal (13.3%), abdominal organ (9.6%), and leg injuries (7.4%). Drowning occurred in 13 (37.1%) of victims, and drowning victims had a higher proportion of moderate brain injuries (7.8%) and lower number of documented injuries (3.8) compared with non-drowning victims (2.9 and 9.4%, respectively). Conclusions Knowledge of injury distributions focuses and prioritizes the need for additional safety features not routinely used in helicopters. The most frequent injuries occurred in the thorax and lower extremity regions. Future research requires improved and expanded data, including collection of detailed data to allow characterization of both injury mechanism and distribution. Improved safety systems including airbags and helmets should be implemented and evaluated for their impact on injuries and fatalities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of fatal injuries in oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, 2004–2014

et al. 2020

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Crashworthiness

Astori¹,

Airoldi²

2012

Encyclopedia of Aerospace Engineering

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Despite all efforts to reduce the risk of accidents, increasing accident survivability is still of utmost importance in aircraft design and certification. Crashworthiness focuses on the design of those structural components and systems that can mitigate occupants’ injury risks, during a ground crash landing or ditching. It involves the design of landing gear response, floor/subfloor crushing pattern, seat/restraint system effectiveness, cabin structure integrity, and fuel system resistance. The topic is vast and complex because it involves large deformations, yielding, instability, ruptures, damage propagation, liquid–solid interaction, and other nonlinear events related to structures and materials. The most direct approach is experimental testing on components or, rarely, full‐scale vehicles, which is obviously very expensive and can only be applied when a full‐scale vehicle is available, so very late in the development process; numerical modeling has therefore become a powerful tool for crashworthiness prediction and structural optimization. Studies and requirements are usually focused on single components; for example, certification rules indicate crashworthy requirements for seats in all aircraft categories and fuel tanks on helicopters. Nevertheless, there is an increasing tendency to study larger parts of the aircraft to better understand the mutual interaction of components and assess the overall crash response.

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Review on U.S. Army Helicopter Mishap Analysis for Revision of Crashworthiness Requirements

Hwang

Lee²

2013

Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Scie

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Representative crashworthiness requirement documents for military helicopter are MIL-STD-1290 and the Aircraft Crash Survival Design Guide(ACSDG) which were lastly revised in the 1980's. Taking analysis results of diverse U.S. Army helicopter mishaps into account, we can say that adequate guidelines do not exist to ensure crashworthiness of new generation aircraft. In this paper, U.S. Army helicopter mishap analysis conducted by U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command(RDECOM) is readjusted to review the basis of new crashworthiness design criteria for military helicopter, in other words, Full Spectrum Crashworthiness Criteria(FSCC). This analysis effort is a part of FSC development. This effort was to research and quantify the dynamics of military aircraft crashes to be used as the quantitative basis for new design criteria.

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Evolving Crashworthiness Design Criteria

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Characterization of fatal injuries in oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, 2004–2014

Characterization of fatal injuries in oil and gas industry-related helicopter accidents in the Gulf of Mexico, 2004–2014

Crashworthiness

Review on U.S. Army Helicopter Mishap Analysis for Revision of Crashworthiness Requirements

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