Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

Safety and Security

Plastic and Composite Intensive Vehicles. A workshop for Subject Matter Experts (SME). Monday, August 4, 2008. DOT/RITA Volpe Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142. Image of car with sunset inside it.

Crashworthiness

Computer graphic of an angled frontal collision between a Chevrolet Lumina and a Chevrolet pickup to study vehicle aggressivity and fleet compatibility.

Lives can be saved in automobile, train, or aircraft crashes. We have developed innovative software modeling techniques to measure vehicle crashworthiness and use biomechanics to analyze crash scenarios for NHTSA. Our engineers use the same techniques to provide crashworthiness expertise to the FRA. We have transferred the experience gained in evaluating injuries to motor vehicle drivers and passengers in crash scenarios to studies being conducted for seat configuration and restraint systems in trains. We are also using these techniques to test passenger seats for Amtrak's high-speed trains, and to construct prototype passenger seat belts. In addition, the Center has explored opportunities to work collaboratively with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on ways to apply these techniques to aircraft safety such as by applying the Center's experience using lumped parameter modeling to aircraft passenger survivor studies.

Photo of crash tests that were used to verify force-crush characteristics of passenger car design.

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