Case Studies

Selected placement history: “Will the Crash Zone Crumple? FEA Tells,” Machine Design, November 6, 2003, page 66.

Speeding Toward Safety with FEA
Engineers use ABAQUS software to design crash zones for high-speed trains

In 1979, British Rail introduced the Advanced Passenger Train project. The object was to design and build a high-speed train for use on the West Coast Main Line, which runs from London to Glasgow. A prototype train went into service briefly in the early 1980s, but for various reasons, some of them political, the government scrapped the project.

Today high-speed rail service is returning to the West Coast Main Line. This time, though, the train is British and Italian. ALSTOM is providing the line with 44 trains featuring Fiat's highly successful Pendolino® tilt-train technology. Virgin Rail is funding the venture.

ALSTOM turned to Alcan Mass Transportation Systems (Alcan MTS, Zurich, Switzerland), for the design and testing of a crash zone at the front and rear of the rail cars. As its name implies, the crash zone is engineered to protect the occupants of the cars in the event of an impact. “Each metal feature of the crash zone has to absorb as much energy as possible before failing,” says Dr. Alois Starlinger, head of structural analysis and testing at Alcan MTS. “In that way, it passes less of an impact to the passenger zone of the car.”

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